You've Got Mail!
by guitarNrd362
Summary: Duncan and Courtney are total opposites, but what happens when they've been internet "penpals" for about 3 years and they finally plan on meeting? And what if Duncan's ex, Heather, finds out & decides to screw around with them? Before TDI! R&R please!
1. Late Night Chats, Risks, & Decisions

o0O0o

"You've Got Mail!"

Startled, Duncan shot up from his bed and sat, rubbing his eyes. He looked at the alarm clock that sat on his bedside table thing in between his bed and his roommate's, Geoff. It was 2:47. AM. He went to bed about 5 hours ago and he actually stayed up for that long?

"Dude, you really gotta shut that thing up… it's been goin' off ever since sophomore days, and if that thing keeps me up every night of senior year, I swear I'll…" Geoff yawned before trailing off back to sleep.

"Just shut up and sleep." Duncan threw a pillow at the now snoring Geoff. _So this is what he's like when he's not throwing a huge riot of a party, _Duncan smirked at the thought before sleepily pulling out his Mac laptop from underneath the bed. The screen blinked "Mail" with a little envelope icon below and he clicked on it.

"Message from: violinChick754" the new eMail subject said. Duncan could feel the corners of his mouth pulling into a smile and his face brightening as he clicked to see what the message was. No matter how late it was on a school night, he would stay up all night reading messages from _her_:

_**I still can't believe Mr. McClean substituting for Chemistry could be a total fail! The way almost anything made out of glass in that classroom exploded just by the sound of him SCREAMING was priceless! It was too awesome.**_

_**P.S. – Sorry if I woke you up. I know it's pretty late, but I can't sleep… Too much thinking…**_

Duncan chuckled at the memory of Mr. McClean's distraught face when he saw some scrawny kid chop open a frog's stomach with just his hand and frog guts showered everyone. He replied:

_**Ha! I know, right? It's all thanks to that kid… what's his name… Arnold? Something like that? I dunno lol. Who knew he'd have a random spaz attack in his arm at that very moment when Mr. McClean stuck his head near the frog (for not even God knows why)! And it's okay, I couldn't really sleep anyway. What's on your mind, Princess?**_

He clicked "send" and waited for a response. This had been going on ever since the 2nd year of high school, just like Geoff mentioned before. And Duncan had to admit, high school became instantly better after eMailing his long-time penpal once in a while to vent, laugh, or just talk. But lately, the eMails hadn't come and go for just once in a while, and now they have been coming almost nonstop, and Duncan didn't mind one bit.

* * *

Courtney twisted a thread of mocha-colored hair through her fingers anxiously as she waited for a reply. Once the screen blinked, she jumped at her olive green laptop and immediately read over the message. She felt her face heat up at the last word "Princess", which was the nickname he gave her without her approval. She covered her face with the blankets underneath the laptop so her roommate (and best friend) Bridgette wouldn't possibly see. In just a couple of seconds, she was already typing up a reply:

_**Well, nothing too important… Okay, well I guess it is… you know how it's already our senior year of college already, right? Well, I still didn't really decide where I'm going to, but I think I'm gonna consider to Princeton or somewhere like that… What about you?**_

Clicking "send", Courtney felt fully awake. It was too bad that she didn't know who the guy that she'd been eMailing and texting for more than half of her high school years was. She'd confided in him when there was no one else, and she had to admit, he was the bright side of her daily life! All she knew about him was that they went to the same school, and that they're in the same grade. She knew that she probably never met him before; there was no guy in that school that she would recognize as her penpal buddy.

Courtney knew that there are creepy, old, stalkers out there, so she couldn't risk her identity and safety. In conclusion, names were never really mentioned at all. No specifics, no family connections, no friends, etc. Teacher names, nicknames, and their usernames were the only exceptions. Courtney liked mysteries, but sometimes, she just craved to know who this guy was! Whether or not what he had been telling her was completely honest, Courtney knew one very true fact:

She might be in love with him.

* * *

_**I was actually thinking of going to Princeton too. Hey, I just noticed: Princess going to Princeton! Maybe you'll also meet your prince there… (hint hint, sweetheart, that's why I want to go!) Don't worry your beautiful head away about it, though. You'll know exactly what to do.**_

Duncan replied. He remembered the countless ways he tried narrowing this girl down in his school, but he was in no luck finding her out. It was up to the point where he found himself like a lost little boy, desperately looking for his mom. That was when Geoff had hooked him up with the hottest, most popular girl in school, Heather Chin.

After being his girlfriend for about a year, he finally broke up with her, finding her clingy and bitchy. He hadn't really even liked her anyway; it was just something to bring himself back up on his feet when he was having trouble dealing with his penpal's unknown identity. In fact, he just needed time, not a girlfriend! He realized this after the break up, but Heather thought otherwise. She demanded revenge, but Duncan couldn't give a crap.

The laptop dinged as a reply arrived.

_**Really? Wow, we can go together then! Thanks, at least that cooled me down a bit. But about that… I was thinking… Well, you know how we've known each other for a pretty long time, and how you've said that I'll meet my **_**"prince"**_** at **_**Princeton, **_**but I was thinking that maybe we could… I dunno…**_

Duncan's brow raised slightly in confusion. "Thinking that we could… what?" He thought aloud. Suddenly, an idea hit him so hard he thought that he was gonna faint. But he didn't. He couldn't possibly pass an opportunity like this! He quickly replied with an excited smile:

_**Meet?**_

* * *

Courtney gasped slightly at the response. How could he have possibly read her mind?

_Hopefully he doesn't think I'm a total creep for typing that. _She thought worriedly. Courtney bit her lip; she was risking her safety, her identity, her_self _for that matter! But her anxiousness got the best of her. Maybe she should… She'll take Bridgette with her just in case? Where would it even be? What time? Not during school, right? Maybe off school hours? What is she even going to _wear?_

"Ugh, worry tomorrow. Sleep, now" She decided forcefully. Even though she didn't want to pull herself away from his messages, she didn't want to deprive him from his sleep; they _did _go to the same school, anyway. Finals were tomorrow anyway!

_**I guess so. Is that okay with you? We can worry about the details tomorrow; I don't want to completely deprive you from your sleep. We've got finals tomorrow, you know! But anyway… is it a "yes"?**_

She didn't close her laptop until she got a reply, which didn't take long. _As always, _she thought to herself, smiling.

_**Definitely yes, Princess. And don't worry about my sleep; I'm only sleeping to dream about you. Good luck with the finals (it's not like you'll need it, but just **__**in case ;) don't worry. Good night!**_

* * *

Duncan quickly added the last part so he wouldn't seem so weird about the "sleeping to dream about you" part. He was so happy that he tried to reply as quickly as possible. He's been dreaming about the day they meet for so long, and he wanted to jump out of bed and just run to her. But for now, he had to go with her wishes and put it to the side for now. He had to be honest with himself, he wasn't exactly the _best _student, and he _did _have a bit trouble, so Duncan knew that he just had to finish the stupid finals, get it over with, and _then _focusing on finding out who is probably the love of his life.

Before finally dozing off, Duncan quickly glanced at his laptop once it blinked with a new message.

_**Awesome! I can't wait until the day! Once finals are over, then it'll be just you and I. Sweet dreams.**_

And with that, Duncan ran his hands through his green Mohawk and fell asleep with a reassured smile on his face. _Sweet dreams, indeedy, _he thought.

o0O0o

**Please review! I'd like to know if it's a good start and whether or not I should continue. Thanks for readin'! New updates coming soon. ~Raf**


	2. Just Another School Day Until

**A/N:**** To Coolgirlwithglasses = I'd love to reply to your message, but it says that the "private messaging feature" is disabled. Please send me another message soon! :)**

**Hey y'all! Just from reading all the nice reviews I received from the first chappie, I'd like to point out that Duncan and Courtney may seem so OCC while they're talking to each other online, but it's part of the story so when they are in regular school hours, they wouldn't really recognize each other whenever they had to talk (not that they do it on purpose, but you know. Teens xD) And in the storyline (and I'm reeeeaaaaallly sorry!), they are pretty much enemies in school =_= I know, I know. Well, Courtney hates him, but Duncan doesn't seem to mind. Rant. Please keep reading, though! Enjoy!**

o0O0o

What felt like just a few minutes after Duncan closed his eyes, the alarm clock rang obnoxiously in his ear. "What the hell?" He sat up and looked at the time. 6:00 AM.

Geoff got up calmly and stretched. "What happened, buddy? Your girl keeping you up late? _Again?_" He asked coolly, putting on his cowboy hat.

Duncan groaned and fell back on the bed. "Man, she's driving me freakin' crazy…" He crossed his arms behind his head and began to doze off, but then woke up again instantly when the soft yet sudden feel of a pillow connecting to his face.

"Wake up, dude! Finals today, 'member?" Geoff reminded him, sliding into his flip flops. He was already dressed with his classic unbuttoned pink shirt, shorts, and hat. "See you at breakfast. Better get there soon or else Chef's gonna give you the nasty leftovers from, like, 4 months ago."

When Geoff walked out the door, Duncan finally got up and walked over to the bathroom groggily. He put on a simple black skull T-shirt with dark jeans. His usual spiked dog collar was already on, and when he looked at himself one last time, he shrugged and walked out without even bothering to tie up the laces on his red converse.

He got to the cafeteria by 6:15. Classes started at 7, but Duncan couldn't care less. He marched over to his usual table (Geoff at one seat, his little crush Bridgette to his left, an empty seat, and then him), slumped down in his seat, and let his head fall onto the table. He didn't feel hungry anyway, so it was clearly the perfect opportunity to just sleep.

"Not eating today again, Duncan?" Bridgette asked in her smooth voice while taking a bite out of her apple. She had a blue sweater with quarter sleeves and dark blue capris. Her brown, flat sandals were nothing different.

Duncan groaned into the table in response, his face being flat down against the surface of the table. "I'll take that as a yes." Bridgette smiled. Geoff put an arm over her shoulders and sighed contently. The delinquent caught that from the corner of his eye and groaned again.

"Um, seriously, do you mind wiping your nasty drool from the table so I can sit down?" a shrill voice asked sharply in Duncan's ear, causing him to jump. He looked up, meeting Courtney's onyx eyes. She wore a red short sleeve polo with brown capris that stopped at her knees. Duncan rolled his eyes, breaking away from her death glare and stubbornly wiped his drool from the front of her chair.

Courtney sat down with a tired sigh, dropped her plate onto the table, and stared at her food. "So freakin' tired… I can't believe I couldn't fall asleep! On the night _before _finals! I didn't even try to study last night..." She whined.

Duncan tried to stifle his yawn. "You're not the only one, _darling. _But I didn't even bother picking up a textbook anyway. I just couldn't freakin' sleep…" He droned off, his head beginning to lean toward Courtney's arm as he trailed off to sleep.

"Hey, wake up!" Courtney jumped, shoving him away quickly once his head lightly touched her arm. "Typical you. Since you don't even study at all, what _were _youdoing up all night?"

"What's it to you, _Princess_?" He teased, holding his head with one hand to keep balance.

Courtney felt her heart in her throat and heat coming up to her face. _Princess? _The same nickname her online friend had started calling _her_. _You should've gotten used to this by now, Courtney, _she told herself. _This imbecile calls you Princess all the time. What's the big deal?_

_I dunno, _she countered. _My penpal called me that last night… I guess hearing it again startled me…Do I really seem like a silly little "Princess" enough for _everyone_ to immediately call me it?_

_Yupp! _Her conscious replied. Courtney rolled her eyes mentally. She should really stop having these quick conversations with herself.

"Uh, hello? Anyone home?" Duncan waved his hand in front of Courtney's face. Courtney immediately straightened up and smacked away his hand. Bridgette giggled.

"Ogre." Courtney simply said and poked at the "egg" on her tray absent-mindedly. She was too tired to hold up a witty comeback war. Duncan smirked in victory and put his head back down

"Dunc-y!" A girly, seductive voice called as someone snaked her arms around Duncan's neck. "Ow!" She yelped, accidentally pricking her left arm against one of the spikes in his dog collar. Bridgette shook her head as Courtney tried to hide the smug look creeping into her face.

"What do you want, Heather" Duncan asked, trying to making it totally obvious that he wasn't too happy seeing her. Well, he wasn't. Ms. "Queen Bee-Prom Queen" Heather Chin was his EX-girlfriend, something Heather seriously needed to understand. She had a V-Neck, fitted white tank top that was see-through enough to notice her black bra underneath, along with olive green short shorts and tiny sandals.

"C'mon, don't be like that! Let's talk, like we used to! Who knows, maybe you'll change your mind about us and, well, come back?" Heather caressed a hand on Duncan's left cheek and began to pull on his arm for him to get up. He stayed put.

"Yeeeaaaah, no." Duncan said, yanking his arm away from her grasp. "Pfft, like there's anything to come back to anyway. Just go away or, something." He rolled his eyes and looked at Geoff, who had "someone-just-got- burned!" written all over his face.

Heather looked shocked, then furious. "Um, may I remind you that _no one _has ever talked to _me _that way and I'd _like _it to _stay _that way." She sort of threatened, narrowing her eyes on Duncan.

"He just did." Courtney suddenly said, now feeling fully awake. Seeing the biggest bizz-nitch in the entire high school being denied and getting owned was the most awesome wake up call ever. Duncan widened his eyes at her; he never really saw her being involved in these kinds of things.

"Need some ice for that burn?" Geoff whooped. Bridgette and Courtney laughed a bit to each other, and Duncan smirked victoriously.

Heather scoffed, spun on her heel and walked away. There was no way she was going to get even more humiliated by the _"losers"_. All she was thinking at the moment was payback.

The bell rang, signaling for class to start. Geoff quickly gave Bridgette a kiss on the cheek as she walked away. Duncan didn't feel so tired anymore, and as he got up, he nudged Courtney's shoulder.

"What?" She asked, looking instantly annoyed and walking in Bridgette's direction.

"That was some guts back there, Princess." Duncan remarked, trying to start a small conversation.

"I have my moments," Courtney shrugged off the nickname. "It's not a big deal anyway."

She walked ahead of him, leaving him with a blank look on his face. _So much for conversation, _he thought.

"Come on, dude." Geoff pushed Duncan to get him walking again. "Fi-nals!" He said in sing-song. Duncan groaned and shook his head while they both walked down the hall.

* * *

The bell rang for lunch period, and Courtney managed to quickly get her laptop from her room before going to the cafeteria. The ELA final was nothing, of course, but now she had the chance to not care about anything for a couple of minutes. She sat down at a bench at the center of campus and logged into her eMail account. Immediately, the same electronic voice spoke out.

"You've Got Mail!"

Courtney felt her heart leap as she saw "Message from: chameleon". She clicked on it and read eagerly.

_**Lunch time. How'd the finals go for you?**_

She replied quickly:

_**I didn't really study that much, but I think I barely made it! You?**_

Courtney tried to be modest. She wanted to say how it was so effing easy, but she didn't want him to think that she was, well, like that. A response quickly arrived a few seconds after clicking "send".

_**Well, I think I passed. Maybe just .5 higher than the failing grade. Hahah I tried to stay awake 'cause I kept falling asleep at random. It was worth staying up last night talking to you, though :)**_

Courtney giggled. How much she wanted to know this kid! She straightened her posture and looked around her. There were teens everywhere: sitting on the grass, against a tree, on benches not too far away. All of them holding a laptop in their hands. Courtney sighed and slumped back down in the bench. Then she remembered what they talked about last night and quickly typed a reply:

_**I was thinking the same thing :) Hey, I just remembered: the details on our meeting?**_

She stared into the screen to wait for a _ding! _from her laptop. But after a couple of minutes, Courtney started to fidget. "Did I say something? Or… what?" She looked through the eMails and worried if she should've just left out the big meeting for now, but then the screen blinked. She sighed in relief and clicked on the new reply.

_**I didn't forget at all. Hmm… how about the center of the school? You know, where all the benches are? I'll sit and be waiting for you at one of them. Is that okay?**_

She practically jumped at the keyboard and fiercely typed _"I'm right here! Please come now! I _love _you!" _But slowed down and stared at the screen staring back at her. She began to backspace her feelings, shaking off the thoughts and urges and typed:

_**Sounds awesome. How does 4pm this Friday sound?**_

It was Tuesday anyway. By the time finals are officially over on Friday, there'll only be the meeting to fret over. She looked at the huge clock that hung above the cafeteria doors. _20 minutes left? _She thought. _Damn, I didn't even eat yet! _She began to close her laptop when it dinged one last time, the last message of the afternoon making her smile.

_**Perfect.**_

Courtney shut it close, put it in her bag, and jumped up from the bench happily. She bit her lip anxiously, trying not to skip like a total idiot. "Keep your cool, Court…" she told herself quietly.

As soon as she began to walk, she noticed an all too familiar green Mohawk sitting on a bench diagonally-across from hers. She knew that she should just start to sprint towards the cafeteria entrance, but instead, she walked over to Duncan, who was holding a laptop attentively on his lap.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Courtney stood in front of him, trying to intimidate him by towering over him.

"Just finishing with some eMails," Duncan shrugged, still looking at the screen. He looked up at her with a curious look.

"Oh," Courtney began to walk away towards the doors that started to look too far away.

Duncan shut his laptop close, left it on the bench, and grabbed his book bag as he got up and caught up with her. "Didn't have lunch yet too, huh?"

Courtney shrugged. "Nope." _Lighten up, Court! _She heard her conscious speak up, but ignored it and turned to Duncan. "Following me? Again?"

"Only if you want me to, sweetheart," Duncan winked at her. Courtney forced away the sudden heat coming to her face, not knowing if it was anger or she was… blushing?

"Pig."

Duncan scoffed. "Watch it, _Princess_."

"Watch it with the name calling, _ogre!_"

"Well, I didn't start it, _sunshine_!"

Heather, making her way out of the cafeteria doors, heard Duncan and Courtney's loud bickering and sneered.

"I swear, if that Courtney bitch is trying anything on him, I'm gonna—" She stopped walking down the steps when she noticed something on the bench not too far away from the entrance. As she walked closer, she found it to be a familiar looking Mac laptop.

Heather picked it up and saw a label on the front that said "Property of Harold", but it was crossed out with a black marker. She opened it.

"You've Got Mail!" the mechanical voice chirped. Heather jumped, but recollected herself. She looked all over the screen to find out who the current owner was. She clicked on the letter icon, which led to a window full of eMails and IM's. On the top left of the page, it said "Hello, _Duncan_".

Heather scoffed. "Wow, he can be so freakin' stupid leaving his stuff lying around…"

Suddenly, a weird, wicked smile slowly creeped onto her face. She clicked at one message, then the next, then the next, then the next, devouring every single word.

"Oh, this is _too _good." Heather snickered. "Hello, revenge!"

o0O0o

**So, what's up? Review please! I tried to not let anyone get outta character, and I hoped I did well… I haven't watched TDI or TDA recently, so I may be a bit "off my rocker" (TDWT is just… well… SAD, btw.) Anyway, hoped you enjoyed it. I'll be updating really soon! Any helpful tips is welcome :D**

**~Raf**


	3. The Day Before Friday

o0O0o

That night, Duncan searched his book bag, his pockets, and all over the dorm. But still: no laptop.

"Dude, you can always steal one again," Geoff suggested, resting on his bed with a Science textbook.

"Well, _dude_," Duncan mocked, "not to mention it has all my stuff on it, but I also can't remember my eMail and password. That's why I'm always logged on! So if I eMail the girl, I'm gonna have to use another account and she might not recognize me." He did a harsh face palm and fell onto his bed.

"Remember where you put it _last time?_" Geoff asked. "Instead of searching through everything, just retrace your steps or something."

Duncan stopped digging through the garbage can and thought. _Where did I leave it…?_

"…Shit!" _The freakin' bench! I just dumped it there to catch up to Princess…? _He ran to the window, which had a good view of the center of the school, and his eyes scanned every bench that his night vision could see, but still, nothing.

"Use the Tech Room," Geoff told him. "You still know your AIM right? So just IM her."

"Oh thank God, Geoff," Duncan shoved on his converse and sprinted out the door, not even caring to close it afterwards.

There weren't really a lot of people out in the halls, and nobody in the Tech Room, which was a good thing. Basically, the room is filled with rows of computers and laptops, but there were some PCs in the back that were hacked to unblock AIM, Facebook, etc. Duncan took a seat in the back corner so it was only the wall behind him.

He turned to press the power button, but suddenly, the screen went black. So did all of the other computers that were already turned on. "…What's goin' on?"

Duncan headed toward the only door in the room and began to call for the maintenance guy, but the door slammed and locked.

"What the hell?" He punched and kicked the door, trying the handle over and over again. There was no one outside through the windows between the room and the hallway. Even picking the lock, it was no use. Minutes later, the lights switched off. Duncan was locked inside the Tech Room for not even God knows how long.

* * *

"Going to go get your daily dose of _'chameleon'_?" Bridgette asked Courtney inside their dorm, faking a swoon with her penpal's username.

Courtney laughed and made a shooing gesture to her friend. "Oh, calm yourself! Now go study or something…"

"You okay by yourself? I'm stopping by Geoff's dorm; he wants to study together." Bridgette backed towards the door with her back pack, blushing.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Go crazy!" Courtney told her, turning on her laptop.

As soon as Bridgette closed the door, Courtney sighed in relief. Now, she was alone. Just her and _chameleon_. It was 9:26pm anyway; they had a lot of time to talk. The little orange circle icon next to his username said that he was online!

_**Hey! You excited for Friday?**_

After clicking "send", the seconds ticked by slowly. Then the minutes, then the hours…

"You've got mail!"

Courtney's eyes shot open at the voice and pulled her head off her pillow. She had fallen asleep waiting for his response…? The alarm clock on the bedside table said 1:53am. Bridgette was in the bed across the room, snoring. Courtney couldn't help but feel a bit aggravated. "I wonder what he's been doing…" she wondered aloud.

_**New plan: Same day (this Friday), but at 8pm, and at the dumpster outside the side of the cafeteria. Be there.**_

And with that, the little orange button next to his username that said he was online faded to gray. He had logged out.

At that moment, Courtney felt… rattled. _Wow, _she thought slowly. _That was really… straightforward? Demanding, actually… Ah, well…_She shrugged it off, closed her laptop, and fell back onto her pillow. At least they were still meeting, right?

* * *

_BANG BANG!_

Duncan jumped up and began to look around the dark room. The lights had shut off after a couple of minutes being locked inside the Tech Room, and he had fallen asleep against the door.

"Get out of there, boy!" A loud, deep intimidating voice shouted from the other side of the door, followed by another set of bangs. "It's past midnight!"

The hallway light was off, too, but Duncan already knew who it was. "You honestly think I'd spend the night _here?_ I'm locked in, Chef! Let me the hell out!" Duncan screamed back.

He heard Chef grunt in annoyance and keys jingling at the door handle. Within seconds, the door slammed open, and Duncan jumped out. Chef had a wheeled garbage can held with one hand, holding a couple of mops and keys in the other. His dark blue janitor jumpsuit made him blend into the darkness.

"Did you see the bastard that thought it'd be freakin' funny to lock me in there for the entire night?" Duncan demanded, arms crossed.

"No, _delinquent_," Chef sneered. "Just go to bed already, or else _I'll _be the next 'bastard' to lock you in there." He laughed away, the garbage can wheels squeaking off. Duncan anxiously sprinted down the hall, Chef's obnoxious laughter echoing behind him. For all he knew, the person that locked him in could still be around.

The moment Duncan burst through the door of his dorm, he managed to close the door shut behind him before collapsing onto his knees and falling asleep right on the floor. He was way too tired and shaken up to care whether he was sleeping on the floor or not. He just needed to sleep.

* * *

"Hey, guys!" Heather greeted (the fakeness of it couldn't hide) while walking over to the group's table. It was breakfast hour, and Courtney's surprised face matched Geoff and Bridgette's confused expressions. Duncan didn't show up yet, so they all figured that he just overslept again. _Weird, _Courtney thought. _She only bothers us when Duncan's around, so what the hell does she want…?_

"So," she said, strangely happy and cheery. "Where's Duncan?"

Courtney rolled her eyes. _No surprise,_ she thought. _Duncan or no Duncan, she's still annoying either way._

"He overslept," Geoff answered. "Found him sleeping on the floor. He said he was too tired to explain why, so he'll just tell later."

"Interesting…" Heather trailed off. Bridgette remained silent, but shared a perplexed look with Courtney.

Heather noticed and turned her attention to the mocha-colored girl. "So, Court, watcha doing on Friday? Lemme guess: studying for finals we're supposed to take in _college?_"

Courtney growled when she heard some people giggled from the tables nearby. "_Actually, _I'm meeti-" She was cut off by Duncan walking in.

"You again?" Duncan asked, looking as pissed as ever at Heather while taking his seat between Geoff and Courtney. The bags under his eyes only made it even more intimidating.

"The one and only!" Heather beamed. Everyone at the table rolled their eyes simultaneously.

"Whatever." Duncan then turned his attention to his friends and tried to make it obvious that he was excluding Heather. "Anyway, some idiot thought it would be freakin' hilarious to lock me in the Tech Room last night."

"What? That's where you were? I figured you were just still down there chillin' when I came back to the room," Geoff said meekly. "Eh, sorry, bro."

Duncan shrugged. "The lights just shut off and all the computers wouldn't turn on. It was like 2 in the morning when Chef got me out."

"Wow." Heather said. Courtney looked up at her, and was a bit startled to see Heather staring right into her eyes with an unfriendly look on her face. Courtney immediately looked away to avoid her heated glare. _What is she staring at…? _She asked herself, starting to feel self conscious.

Heather flipped her black hair off her shoulder and strutted away. Courtney couldn't help but feel confused.

"That was very… abrupt…?" Bridgette noted the queen bee's exit. She shrugged it off, "…must be PMS or something."

The girls burst into laughter while Duncan and Geoff looked at each other bewildered, trying to decode their "girl terms" but failed.

* * *

"Hey! Give me that back!" An awkward, thin red-headed wheezed, chasing after Duncan through the hallways after school ended.

"Nah, I need this way more than you do!" Duncan smirked over at Harold, whose face was getting red from running.

"I've got stuff on that laptop, you know! Just like-" Harold inhaled desperately to catch his breath. "The last one you stole!"

"Yeah, but I lost that one," Duncan explained. "So… whatever!" He ran into his room and quickly shut the door, just after Harold collapsed in exhaustion not too far away.

Duncan fell back onto his bed laughing. Picking on and stealing from geeks was always a riot.

_Knock, knock. _"Um, Duncan? Geoff? Anyone there?" said a soft voice behind the door.

"Who is it?" Duncan asked after the person knocked again.

"It's Courtney," she answered. "Duncan? Why is Harold just lying down on the floor out here? What the hell did you do?"

"I didn't do anything, he just-"

"Open this door! I can't hear you!"

Duncan rolled his eyes, went over to the door, and opened it to see Courtney with her hands on her hips. She looked suspicious, and she wasn't any less than just a few inches from Duncan's face.

_One, two, three… aw, six freckles! _He quickly counted. _Wait…why did I just do that? _

"Yes, Princess?" He teased, ignoring his thoughts. She rolled her eyes in response and turned to point at the unfortunate messed up-looking nerd on the floor a foot away from her.

"I couldn't care less, sweetheart," Duncan leaned against the doorway. He eyed her carefully. "Are you sure this isn't just a perfect opportunity for you to talk to me?"

"What? NO!" Courtney crossed her arms stubbornly and stuck her nose in the air. "I was just walking by peacefully, on my way to _my room_, when I almost tripped over _that!"_ She pointed again to Harold, who was beginning to stir.

"Sure, sure," Duncan wiggled his eyebrows. There was a couple of seconds of awkward silence between the two, but Duncan got an idea as he turned around and walked into his room.

"So… wanna hang for a while?" He suggested, trying to hide his devilish grin and to not sound like a pedophile when he said it.

"Yeah, um, _no._" Courtney replied, but with a smile.

"Aw, c'mon," Duncan said while Courtney began to walk down the hall. "Why can't you just loosen that pole up your butt for a second?"

"Excuse me?" Courtney turned around swiftly and narrowed her eyes at him. "If you _must_ know, I have to go meet up with Bridgette anyway. We're gonna go shopping for Friday night."

"That's tomorrow night," Duncan stated. "What's happening tomorrow night?"

_Oh, shit. _Courtney put her hand to her mouth. "Uh… ah, never mind. We're just gonna go shopping. Stop being so nosy!" She quickly added the last part as she started her way down the hall again.

"Maybe you should get to a specialist to get that pole off your butt," Duncan winked, pointing to himself as the "specialist".

Courtney scoffed. "You know you're just my favorite person to hate?" She stood in front of him once again with her hands on her hips.

"As long as I'm a favorite," he replied, playfully punching her lightly on the shoulder and closing the door of his room before she could protest.

Scratching her head in confusion for about the 3rd time that day, Courtney continued walking towards her dormitory. _It was supposed to be an insult, _she thought. _Right?_

She brushed off the questions in her head as she turned the door knob of her room to see her blonde friend already there.

"Ready?" Bridgette asked, preparing her purse on her bed.

"Absolutely."

* * *

Heather spotted the 2 friends walking down the hall past her room. The door was open, but Courtney and Bridgette didn't notice.

"So anyway," Heather's ditzy roommate, Lindsay, continued her non-ending conversation on the bed across the room from her. "I think his name was Timmy. No, wait – …_Tyler_…? …Nah, that's not it… Oh, I know-"

"Lindsay!" Heather cut off the blonde a little too cheerfully. "Wanna go shopping? Let's go!" She began to get her purse and her sandals on in a rush.

Lindsay fixed the blue bandana that held her blue locks in place and hesitantly put on her designer western boots. "W-What? Wait, why?" She asked in her nasally voice.

"Because," Heather answered swiftly. "It's for tomorrow night. And I want to look good when I watch some hearts getting broken.

o0O0o

**You guys (and me too!) are so effing lucky that I don't have art classes on for the next 4 days! So from right now to Thursday next week, I'll be working on nothing but this story. Thanks for all the nice reviews! I had fun writing this story so far anyway. I can't even wait to start on Chapter 4 myself! Lol, so anyway, tell me what you think? Opinions? Any ideas on what should happen next? Go ahead! :)**


	4. The Meeting

**A/N: In case you were wondering about Harold from the last chapter, he's fine. He eventually woke up and just went back to his room :3 Enjoy the epicness of Chapter 4!**

o0O0o

_Friday afternoon…_

The last school bell of the day rang obnoxiously through the classroom. Courtney dropped her pencil onto her desk and blew the pencil eraser shavings off her paper. Finals were, well, _finally_ done.  
All there is left in the senior year is 3 months of awesome dances and extra free periods, but Courtney didn't think of that when she gave the Science teacher her last paper of high school. All she could think of was The Meeting (as she and Bridgette called it).  
_THE_ Meeting.

It was only 3:00pm, and her little get-together with _chameleon _was at 8pm. She had 5 hours to do whatever, but Courtney wanted to prepare herself.

"Bridgette, what if he thinks I'm ugly?" Courtney asked, looking at her reflection their room's mirror and pulling at the hem of her skirt. It was 3:45pm now, and Bridgette was helping her get ready for the big moment.

"Court, you're looking gorgeous! Don't be so self conscious," her blonde friend assured her sweetly. She went over to help Courtney with the cuffs of her sleeves.

"I dunno," Courtney said with a sigh, taking a step back to observe herself fully. She was wearing what she considered the best outfit in her wardrobe: a dark brown, American Eagle button down cardigan with a light gray tank underneath it. She wore a simple (yet very pretty and fitting) white, lacy-layered Hollister skirt and black ballet flats. Courtney didn't want to admit it, but she thought for the first time in her life that she really did look pretty good.

"All the shopping paid off, I guess." Courtney bit her lip before asking, "Bridge… can you please, um, come with me to the meeting place?"

Bridgette looked at her and thought. "Well…alright. I guess I can stay for a bit." She smiled and shrugged.

"Thank you!" Courtney exclaimed, hugging her tightly. "I'm just a little nervous about this whole thing; meeting him. You know my self esteem drops at situations like this!" She looked at Bridgette. "I think he might the love of my life!"

"Let's go get something to eat," Bridgette suggested, grabbing the door handle. "You know, before you start thinking of getting down on one knee and proposing to the guy."

Courtney smacked her friend's back while they both laughed, heading towards the cafeteria.

_This is going to be the best night ever, _Courtney thought with a smile and relaxed a little.

* * *

"Come on, Geoff!" Duncan looked at his watch nervously. He combed his Mohawk for about the 17th time in the mirror and kept fixing the neck of his grey and black striped shirt (Geoff helped him pick it out since it's the only thing in his closet that doesn't have a skull on it). He had on some ripped dark blue jeans and a new pair of grey converse.

"Are you coming or not?" Duncan almost shouted at the bathroom door, where his friend was on the other side, getting ready as well. He yawned a bit, since he couldn't really get much sleep the night before (the wait for this day was eating him alive).

Too honestly embarrassed to go alone, Duncan had asked him to accompany him when going to meet _violinChick754, _to which Geoff agreed (he thought his love-struck friend would need the moral support anyway).

"Calm yourself, dude," Geoff said, coming out of the bathroom and putting his hat on. "We've only got… wait, what time are you supposed to meet her?"

"4," Duncan replied sharply. "And it's only… shit, man! It's 3:58!" He threw himself back in front of the mirror and started to comb his hair again in a panic.

"Wow, Duncan," Geoff said, awed. "This is the first time I've ever seen you actually _try_ to be on time. _Ever_. Dang, this girl's got you hooked!"

He opened the door for his anxious friend as they speed-walked down the halls to the nearest exit.

"Let me be honest with you, bra," Duncan muttered as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "She might be the love of my life."

Geoff looked at him wide eyed. "Whoa, dude. Deep." Duncan laughed and relaxed a bit in response.

They burst through the doors leading to the side of the center. Duncan took a seat on the bench he sat on the day before when he was eMailing _her_. He ran his fingers through his Mohawk restlessly and looked at his watch. _4:00pm exactly, _he thought with a smug look on his face. _Now, all I have to do is wait._

He gave a thumbs up to Geoff, who was leaning against a tree not too far away from his bench. Geoff returned it with a supportive smile. _All I have to do is just wait…_

_**About 3 and ½ hours later…**_

Duncan felt someone continuously tapping his shoulder and 2 distant voices echoing.

"_Dude! Wake up! Duncan? Yoohoo?"_

"_What's going on?"_

"_Oh, hey… just trying to wake up this kid…"_

"_What happened?"_

"_He was just waiting…"_

"…_waiting for…? What, idiot?"_

"_For something, okay? Just chill and help me!"_

"_Fine."_

Duncan opened his eyes to the bickering that hovered over him. _What the…? _His night vision kicked in to see Geoff standing over him with…

"Heather? What?" Duncan jumped up from the bench at the sight of her, grinning and beaming at him.

Suddenly, he slowly looked around at his surroundings. When the moon shone (almost like it was mocking) and the stars naively glinted at him, he slowly realized what had happened.

"Geoff, why the hell is it nighttime already…?" He looked at his friend innocently, not wanting to believe what he already knew.

Geoff shook his head sadly. "Dude, I'm sorry…" He trailed off; trying not to look at Duncan's confused eyes. "Y-You fell asleep, but I kept looking out… And no one… She… she didn't…"

The shocked teen looked at his watch, and his heart stopped when he saw the time. _7:48pm. _

Duncan swore he felt something (or someone) ripping his heart right out of his chest and tearing it into little tiny pieces in front of his face. He closed his eyes and slumped back down on the bench, holding his head in his hands.

"So, Duncan," Heather piped up. "It seems pretty obvious that you're not doing anything tonight! So how does you, me, and my room sound?"

Duncan trembled. He shook in anger, hurt, and mostly confusion. He looked up at Heather after a couple of seconds, his teal eyes suddenly turning an icy, cold blue shade. The girl began to back away a bit in fear.

He felt Geoff put a hand on his shoulder, as if he was going to suddenly pounce on Heather, but surprised him when he simply got up and walked away without a word.

Duncan heard the blonde's footsteps trying to catch up with him. "I hope she took that as a yes… Heh, right?" Geoff joked.

But Duncan was emotionless as a rock. He continued to walk silently. All he wanted to do was to just keep walking, as if he was walking away from either what had happened, or what was supposed to be.

* * *

"I just hope he likes me," Courtney said sheepishly as she and Bridgette went through the cafeteria doors and around the building towards the Dumpster.

"Aw, don't worry about it, Court! You'll be just fine! I'll be waiting with you," Bridgette told her.

Courtney smiled at her friend and suddenly took notice of the night. It was a bit chilly, and the area around the Dumpster looked completely deserted. She felt her nervousness turn into suspicion and caution.

"You know," Courtney began in a whisper, taking another look around. "Now that I look at it, _chameleon _picked a pretty creepy place to meet."

"Not to mention nasty," Bridgette said, covering her nose from the smell coming from the large dumpster. "Something tells me he's not gonna grow up to be a planner after college."

Courtney shushed her, trying hard not to laugh loudly. For all she knew, the guy she was waiting for could show up any second. _It's 8pm precisely! _She thought happily. _This is gonna be the night of my life!_

"Hey, there's Geoff and Duncan," Bridgette noticed, waving at the blonde who responded back.

Courtney lifted her hand to say hi, but stopped when she noticed the teen beside Geoff that looked like a walking, grey raincloud. She raised an eyebrow when she realized that it was Duncan. _I wonder what the hell happened now._

"Hey, guys," Geoff greeted with a hint of sadness in his usual, joyful tone.

"Hi Geoff," Courtney replied, keeping her eyes on Duncan. He didn't make eye contact with her (or anyone at that matter) and looked like he was busy playing with his ear piercing. Courtney could tell that there was something wrong, but hesitated at the thought of asking.

"Um…" Bridgette, taking note of Duncan's tension, looked at Geoff and nodded towards the delinquent.

"What happened?" Courtney mouthed the words, to which Geoff shrugged in response.

"He just… waited for something that never came, that's all." Geoff explained.

Duncan suddenly twisted around to face him, startling everyone. "That's all? _That's all?-_"

He opened his mouth to say something else, but he looked at each one of them with a blank, detached expression slowly (from Geoff, Bridgette, then Courtney) before shaking his head and walking off.

After a few seconds of silence, Geoff turned to the confused girls. "I-I guess I'm gonna check if he's okay!" He stammered. "He's probably up at the room sleeping; you know how us sleep-deprived teens are! Heheh…" Geoff chuckled nervously before running off himself.

"Wow," Courtney spoke up, still perplexed about Duncan's little episode.

"Yep," Bridgette agreed, looking off to where the boys headed off to. Courtney tilted her head as she observed her friend's gaze, thinking that Bridgette was probably "wow-ing" about something else (cough GEOFF cough).

"You know, I think Geoff's got a long way back up to his dorm," Courtney hinted innocently. "He might need some company…"

Bridgette looked at her with wide, hopeful eyes. "B-But I thought we're waiting for-"

"Aw, don't worry about me!" Courtney made a shooing gesture to her friend. "It's gonna be the best night ever, anyway. Have fun!"

Bridgette wished her good luck, squealed, and ran, screaming "Geoff! Geoff, wait a second! I'm coming!"

Courtney smiled to herself. _Good job, Court! _She congratulated herself. _We both get our princes tonight._

"Alright, Courtney Sanders," Courtney took in a deep breath. "Just calm down, be patient, and wait. Your prince is arriving any moment!"

* * *

Duncan sat on his bed, staring at the laptop he stole from Harold just the day before. He leaned against the wall, thinking whether or not he should send a message to that girl, or just keep staring. Duncan didn't know exactly what he was waiting for.

He thought he would hear the same "You've got mail!" phrase that he's always heard whenever he laid eyes on a laptop or computer, but it didn't come this time. He thought _violinChick754 _would come bursting through the door and explain herself, and whatever it was, he would end up believing her. He refused to cry, so instead, he felt something dying inside. He never felt so broken like this; it was more than when his pet spider was killed or when he thought he felt broken when he broke a leg or an arm. It was a different type of broken.

He laughed at himself a bit. _I sound so emo, _he thought to himself for a second.

Countless questions ran through his head.

_Why didn't she show up?_

_If she couldn't come, why didn't she eMail me or something?_

_Perhaps something came up and she couldn't get to her computer?_

_Does she already have a boyfriend?_

_Do I just not matter?_

_Did I scare her?_

He opened his laptop quickly and started to refresh the page over and over again.

_Maybe there's something wrong with the laptop?_

_Maybe with the Internet?_

Duncan looked at himself in the mirror. _Maybe there's something wrong with me…?_

_Wow,_ he heard his conscious say flatly. _Big ole cocky Duncan thinks that there's something wrong with him. Isn't that just pitiful?_

_I thought she was the love of my life… _He replied.

_Man up, dude! I'm serious! What happened to tough Duncan? What am I doing inside this huge, mushy, softy? You're seriously gonna consider wasting your last days of high school just because she didn't show up?_

…_Um…yeah?_

_C'mon, man. You have to give her the benefit of the doubt!_

Duncan stopped his thoughts and considered it for a second. _I guess I should…_

"Where's Geoff…?" He wondered out loud, looking around the room like he missed something. Wasn't he chasing after him? Ah, well, he sort of liked being alone for a couple of minutes to think things through. Duncan looked at the alarm clock.

_11:24pm, huh? If he's still outside in the cold, I'm seriously gonna crown him King of Stupidity myself._

He looked out the window and scanned the bare trees and the park benches as the moon innocently lit up the scenery. _It really sucks how this was all gone to waste, _Duncan thought, freely letting his sappy, romantic side kick in.

Suddenly, he saw a small figure wandering around the steps outside the cafeteria doors. The lampposts lining the twisted path through the center brightened, and Duncan caught a good look at the shadow's face.

"…Courtney?" He took a closer look at her. What the hell was she doing out there at 11:30 at night?

The light gleamed on the tears streaming down her cheeks. _She's…crying? _It was the first time he saw any other emotion from her, and Duncan was taken aback.

_I wonder what kind of crap _she's_ been through tonight, _he thought as he watched her pace back and forth. She looked confused and a little bit scared. She kept glancing around the benches and went around the building to where the Dumpster was and came back a couple of times.

Suddenly, she sprinted away, and Duncan saw her sobbing. He sighed and began to pull the curtain.

_This has been one freakin' hell of a Friday night… _he thought. _Wait…what was that?_

He pulled back the curtain and scanned the center once more, trying to find the thing that emerged from some trees a couple of seconds ago.

The shadow stepped out to lean against a lamppost close by, shaking from what seemed like laughter.

Duncan narrowed his eyes as he recognized the person.

"Hey, man," he heard Geoff say as the door to their room closed. "...You okay?"

"Dude," Duncan asked, still keeping his eyes out the window. "Did you see Heather leave when you went after me in the center?"

Geoff shook his head. "Uh... no, actually. ...Why? What's going on, man?"

"Because," Duncan growled. "I just watched Courtney leave sobbing, and that bitch was hiding in the trees laughing her ass off."

o0O0o

**Cliffhanger! Well, something of it lol. Hope you enjoyed it! It took some time since I was watching "Revenge of the Bridesmaids" half the time and my mom used the PC for about 2 hours -_- I had some fun writing this chappie! Anyways, review! What do you think is gonna happen? Any opinions? Ideas? Go crazy!**

**~Raf**


	5. Bitter Aftertastes and Breakfast

o0O0o

Saturday morning, Courtney laid face down on her bed, still in her clothes from the night before. Her mind swirled with head-pounding questions she couldn't know the answer to. All the while, she blamed herself for this.

_How could I let myself just fall in love with a stranger?_

_Shouldn't I just get up and move on?_

_Am I really gonna spend the rest of my senior year like _this_?_

_Did I seriously waste 3 years of high school eMailing this random guy just to end up being heartbroken when he doesn't show up for our meeting?_

She heard Bridgette swiftly opening the curtains, letting the morning sunshine spill into the room and onto her bed, blinding her.

"Courtney." The blonde sat on the edge of her friend's bed. Courtney let out a muffled sound, something like "What?"

"You've gotta get up! I've never seen you like this. This isn't you!" Courtney felt Bridgette pulling at her arm, but she wouldn't budge.

"What if this was all just a misunderstanding? Give _chameleon _a chance!"

Courtney finally pulled her face from her pillow and looked up at her friend. Her onyx eyes looked faded and her cheeks were red and wet from crying.

"Bridgette…" Courtney began. "H-He would've eMailed or something! He would've t-told me something happened…" She traced a wrinkled layer of her white skirt lightly with her finger. "Well, now it sounds like he _should've _instead…"

"Court," Bridgette said, sounding like she was giving instructions. "Give the guy a chance to explain himself! Then, whatever happened, happened. You'll know what to do once he gives his reasons."

Courtney shook her head. "I-I don't think I'm gonna be eMailing him for a while… but… I guess you're right…" She gave her friend a weak smile.

"There's the Courtney Sanders I know," Bridgette responded brightly, patting her back.

She managed to pull the heart-bruised girl up from her bed and pushed her into the bathroom.

Courtney looked at Bridgette, confused. She didn't really feel like going anywhere; unlike her usual self, she sort of _wanted _to wallow away in her misery. Well, just until she was ready to sort of move on.

"We're gonna go get some breakfast," Bridgette explained with a gentle smile. "You're gonna take a shower and wash all the worries in the world away."

The mocha-haired girl slumped. She felt like crawling back to bed and sleeping away the rest of the weekend.

"You need to get out of this room, and live!" Bridgette threw her arms in the air, then covered her nose with her hands. "Anyway, do you _know_ what waiting by the Dumpster for about 3 hours has left you with?"

Courtney groaned, trying to ignore the smell of trash reeking from her clothes. "Fine, fine." She closed the bathroom door while Bridgette changed into her usual outfit.

"I'll meet you downstairs!" Bridgette yelled before shutting the door to the room.

* * *

Duncan watched the teens around him meet up and talk as if nothing ever went wrong in their lives. He sighed, putting his head down on the table and closing his eyes

"Well, _I_ think it was a pretty good idea to get you out of that bed and get some air," Geoff shrugged. They were at their usual table in the cafeteria with breakfast on their trays, but they barely touched their food. "You look like you need it anyway."

Duncan glared at the blonde, who just looked at him with his calm blue eyes. "Hey, _someone _needed to get you out of your 'tear-soaked pillow'!" Geoff said with a smile.

Duncan just groaned in response and put his head back down on the table. "I specifically said before that I _refused _to cry last night," He responded quickly. "I just…moped. Just a little."

"Or… just…a lot." Geoff said, remembering Duncan's continuation of staring at his laptop after looking out the window. "By the way, what was the big deal seeing Heather out there at the center last night?"

Duncan's eyes opened at the memory. _I forgot about that bitch…_

_What? What happened with Heather? _His conscious asked.

_She was there when I left the center…and she was _still _there when Courtney left…_Duncan began to put it all together in his head slowly. _Had she been watching all along…?_

Suddenly, Duncan raised his head quickly. Geoff jumped back into his seat since he was planning on tapping Duncan's head to get his attention.

The delinquent opened up his mouth to explain what he just realized, but was cut off.

"Morning, guys," Bridgette greeted, walking in with a skip in her step.

"Hey, Malibu," Duncan replied casually as she sat down closer than usual to Geoff, who looked at him strangely because of his quick change in mood.

Bridgette smiled in his direction and turned to the blonde. "And hello, handsome." She told Geoff, which followed by a pretty long make out session.

Duncan confirmed in his head that something had obviously happened last night between the two.

Geoff opened his eyes during his kiss to glance at Duncan with a confused look, to which Duncan simply replied "No one can know."

"Know what?" Courtney asked innocently behind Duncan, trying to get to her seat holding a tray of food.

Duncan moved his chair in so she could pass by. He shrugged at her question and watched her reaction as she finally took notice of Bridgette and Geoff. She looked at them and back at Duncan as they shared the awkward feeling.

During a long period of uncomfortable silence, Duncan eyed Courtney carefully, looking for anything like a hint of sadness or depression. But, just like him, she was trying to cover up her misery as well, for whatever reason. Duncan didn't know exactly what had happened to her last night to make her cry, but he had a feeling that it had something to do with Heather.

"Hey, Princess," Duncan teased. "What's with the long face?"

"W-What are you talking about?" she asked, leaning her head on one hand as she poked at the cereal on her tray with the other. _Psh, she's so easy to read, _Duncan thought with a smirk.

"I mean, are you, uh, okay?" He pressed on, tugging at his dog collar. He wasn't used to these kinds of talks. Especially with Courtney, since they've pretty much despised each other since day one. The only reason they were somewhat "acquaintances" was because of Bridgette and Geoff.

"Sure, yeah, I-I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Courtney lied through her teeth. She took in a huge spoonful of the Cheerios like she could simply swallow her guilt. "I-I mean, I could ask the same for you, I guess."

Duncan tried to stifle his groan. She was obviously hinting his little dramatic exit the night before.

"Well, y-yeah, I'm okay." He stammered. The two looked away from each other and pretended to be interested in eating their food.

Geoff and Bridgette finally took a break and leaned back into their chairs to relax.

"So," the blonde said, slinging an arm around Bridgette's shoulders. "You guys coming to the most wicked end of high school party, hosted by _moi_?"

"You're hosting the _prom_?" Duncan asked, raising his eyebrows (er… eyebrow) in excitement. There was no better way to throw away every little bad thing in the world than going to one of Geoff's parties.

"Hell, yeah, dude! Principal Spina's finally recognized my epic party skills and decided that it's up to me to plan the biggest prom Gravenhurst High has _ever seen!_" Geoff announced loudly, receiving some cheers from some teens at the other tables and a high-five from Duncan.

**(A/N: I just chose a random high school in Muskoka, Canada lol. So I guess from now on, they're in their senior year of Gravenhurst High? Heh)**

Duncan, realizing a golden opportunity, quickly looked at Geoff as he tried to make it look completely obvious that a little light bulb in his brain had turned on, but the blonde failed to notice.

Duncan rolled his eyes. "I'll tell you later." The girls looked at each other, not knowing what the hell they were talking about. They sat for a couple seconds in awkward silence.

"When is it?" Courtney spoke up, looking clearly uninterested. She was just trying to keep up the conversation. She knew for a fact that she wasn't a party animal; not that she would have the experience to know. If she went to Prom, it would officially be her very first party.

"Wednesday night, 8:30pm," Geoff replied, looking at Courtney curiously. "You comin', Mocha?"

"Eh…" she thought it over, and it was a pretty tough decision. She was very uncomfortable with her body, and being at a huge dance filled with drinks and dancing would only make her feel more self conscious. Even though wherever she walked, guys would forget that she was a total prep and drool over her, she wouldn't believe it. "Maybe…maybe not…"

"Aw, c'mon, Princess," Duncan teased, nudging her arm which she quickly pulled away. "You gotta get whatever's bugging you off your mind someday!"

"I already told you that I'm perfectly _fine!_" Courtney spat, banging her fists against the table, causing their foam trays to jump. She quickly covered her mouth when she heard her angry voice echoing throughout the entire cafeteria.

Duncan, Geoff, and Bridgette looked at her confused. Courtney suddenly paused as the noise volume in the cafeteria rose again and looked at Bridgette, hoping that she's getting her hint that she had just realized something _big_. She took a deep breath and got up with her tray.

"I-I'm gonna go to the lounge to relax," Courtney said, walking to the trash can near the exit.

"I'll come with," Bridgette got up and walked into Courtney's direction. Courtney smiled and quickly grabbed her friend's hand.

"C'mon, I have the possibly perfect idea that could save my love life!" she said a little loudly.

"Hey!" Duncan yelled, looking at the girls from his chair and. "Um, _Geoff_ here wants to know if you're still comin' to the dance thing."

"_Geoff _here?" His friend laughed at Duncan's little excuse, but Duncan ignored it.

"Well, are you?" He asked again, looking to Courtney.

Courtney shrugged her shoulders. "Hell, yeah!" She replied before running off to where the lounge was, a confused Bridgette at her heels.

* * *

_At the lounge_

_(Where teens come to play ping pong, Wii, xbox, sit and talk, etc.)_

"Courtney, can you please just slow down for a second?" Bridgette asked, panting. The lounge was all the way on the other side of the high school from the cafeteria, so it was a pretty long run.

They sat down on one of the empty couches against the wall. There was only a guy playing guitar against the ping pong table, where a round blonde kid and his scrawny awkward-looking friend battled it out.

"You know how you were telling me about how I should give," Courtney looked around slowly before whispering fiercely, "_chameleon _a second chance?"

"Uh, yeah? What does tha-" She cut her friend off.

"And you know the Prom that's coming up this Wednesday, right?" Courtney continued, her eyes, no longer oddly faded, brightly shining in excitement.

"Get to the point!" Bridgette start to get a little excited herself.

"I'll ask _chameleon _to come!" Courtney threw her hands in the air. "We could plan on meeting somewhere in the party! Not like the cheesy 'meet-me-in-the-middle-of-the-dance-floor' shiz we always hear in movies!"

"Now we're talking!" Bridgette exclaimed, giving her a high five. "But how are you gonna-"

Courtney put her hand up to stop her. "We'll work on the details later. Right now, I gotta eMail him before he makes other plans!"

* * *

"…I'll wait for her there, and when she comes, we'll just make amends, and everything will be fine!" Duncan finished, crossing his arms behind his head and leaning back in his chair.

"Looks like someone's got their groove back," Geoff nodded in approval. "Hey… let's make it a masked event!"

"Uh…what?" Duncan asked incredulously.

"When everyone wears masks?" Geoff chuckled at his confusion. "We can do that for Prom! It'll be fun! And make your little get-together with that girl a bit more special."

"Ah, I like where this is going," Duncan nodded slowly.

_I'm not the romantic type, but I can just picture it now…_

_A beautiful dress sweeping in, worn by a beautiful lady. She waits on a balcony, her face looking downward shyly. I lift her chin so I can look her in the eyes and find all I've been waiting for is right in front of me…_

"D-Dude!" Geoff suddenly yelled, shattering Duncan's little daydream.

He shook his head and came to reality, realizing what kind of position he and his poor friend was in. Duncan was holding Geoff's chin with his left hand, and their faces were awkwardly close together.

"Oh, _God!_" Duncan exclaimed, shoving Geoff's face away from his.

Geoff laughed out loud. "Y-You should've seen your face, dude! _Oh, a beautiful dress worn by a beautiful lady!_" He mocked.

"Shut up, man!" Duncan blushed as he got up and pushed Geoff off his chair.

There weren't really a lot of people in the cafeteria anymore, since it was breakfast hour was over already. Heather sat alone, 2 tables away from the boys who were attacking and mocking each other. Little did they know that she had heard their entire plan for Prom, and that she was already had the perfect plan for their downfall.

o0O0o

**Isn't Duncan's side of the story always more interesting to type? I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I like it better :D I know this is a pretty quick chapter, but I assure you guys that Chapter 6 is right around the corner! I'm not doing **_**anything **_**tomorrow, seriously. So, I'll be working on "6: The Prom" all effing day! Hooray! I sorta like this story anyways lol. Me likes where this is going :3**

**Comments? Opinions? Ideas? Tips? I live for your reviews, guys! ~Raf**


	6. Details, Details

**A/N: Hey y'all! BTW read the A/N on the bottom as well. Very important.  
****This chappie here isn't the Prom night; it's Courtney and Duncan trying to convince each other (through penpals, of course) to try meeting again at the Prom (and yeah, they're basically getting ready with all the shopping and other dance party shiz). They're IMing this time! Yay!  
********I know that I've been updating chapter after chapter almost everyday, but after uploading this, I think I'll give you guys a few days to take a break from this so it's more special ;D **I ish sorry :[ I'm "gathering data" for the **SEVENTH**** chapter, when the Prom and the meeting will take place, so don't worry! Thanks and enjoy.**

o0O0o

Tuesday evening, Courtney took in a deep breath before reaching underneath her bed in her dormitory. She pulled out her laptop and blew off the dust that gathered on top, even though it has only been 4 days since she'd touched/seen it.

"Come on," Bridgette urged on from behind, sitting on her bed reading a book. "You can do this. You've been planning this the entire weekend. I think you're _both _ready to make up." Before Courtney could open her mouth to make up an excuse not to do it, Bridgette quickly stuck her nose back into her novel.

Courtney rolled her eyes and sighed as she pressed the power button. _I was so pumped up about this idea on Saturday… Why the hell is it so nerve-wrecking now?_

She half-expected the same, loud robotic voice to startle her, like always. But, after waiting for a few seconds in silence, Courtney grunted and opened her eMail page. _It's only 10pm anyway, so he _has_ to be online._

Suddenly, a little IM window popped up from the bottom right corner of her screen. It was from _chameleon_'s AIM.

_**chameleon: **_hey

She felt her heart do a couple of somersaults in excitement and nervousness. _Alright, Courtney, show him that you're strong! Show him that you won't back down until we finally meet face to face!_

"He's IM-ing me," Courtney announced to her friend, who gave her a thumbs-up in response.

_**violinChick754: **_hi

There wasn't much of a response after that. Courtney tried to imagine him, sitting in front of his computer, just staring at the screen, wondering and mustering up a meaningful apology inside his head.

_**chameleon: **_i just wanted to say.

Courtney tilted her head to the side.

_**violinChick754:** _…say…what?

She waited anxiously as the little text below her response blinked over and over again.

_chameleon __is typing… __chameleon __is typing… __chameleon __is typing…_

_

* * *

_

_Don't bring up Friday night, don't bring up Friday night, don't freakin' bring it up! _Duncan thought repeatedly. _Just be a man and ask her to meet at the damn Prom!_

Duncan scratched his head as he simply stared at the bright screen of his laptop, choosing his words carefully. His fingers just froze at the keys._ IM-ing her seemed so easy when running through it in my head, so why is it so freakin' hard now?_

_**chameleon: **_you still there?**  
**_**violinChick754: **_always will be.

He smiled at her quick response, but felt hurt at the same time. _God, what the hell? I'm getting soft…_Duncan growled in his head furiously.

He cracked his knuckles to keep his toughness from slipping away and went back to the keyboard.

_**chameleon: **_someone stole my laptop so now I can't get to my email -_-**  
**_**violinChick754: **_guessing you bought another one?**  
**_**chameleon: **_yupp

Duncan couldn't help but smirk. _Suuuure, _he thought. _If "bought another one" means stealing a geek's laptop again. Then, psh, yeah._

_**chameleon:** _i'll just IM u instead, is that okay? u still have that AIM app on your phone?

**

* * *

**

Courtney checked her olive-green covered iPhone to see if she still had it. _Wow, that was in sophomore year when I told him! _She smiled when she saw the little AIM icon all the way on the last page of her iPhone menu.

She felt herself relax as she brought her attention back to her laptop. _Maybe the whole Friday thing can wait, _Courtney thought, typing away.

_**violinChick754: **_yep! I just checked, and it's still there. That was sophomore year when I told u; I can't believe u still remember C:**  
**_**chameleon: **_I have my moments, princess.

Courtney giggled; she had missed being called that nickname, aside from the Neanderthal that calls her that almost everyday.

"I'm sensing something good so far," Bridgette looked up from her book.

"Yeah, I guess," Courtney replied. "It's not so bad anymore… how's that book coming along?"

Bridgette closed the novel she was holding and gazed at the cover. "I really like this story… _Love Letters: Perfect Strangers_. It's interesting."  
**(A/N: Thanks to Teamduncan77 for telling me about the book! On the book cover, the girl sorta looks like Courtney :D anyways, cheers to Kat!)**

The _ding! _from the laptop lured Courtney's attention back to the chatroom.

_**chameleon: **_did u hear principal spina and her morning announcements?**  
**_**violinChick754: **_wait, u mean when she was saying the weather and told us to "get ready for some heat waves, fucks, I MEAN FOLKS!"

**

* * *

**

Duncan went into hysterics as he remembered their principal's little screw up over the P.A. megaphone. The people in the cafeteria at breakfast hour cracked up, hearing gasps and whoops in the background, a loud string of random curses following afterwards.

_**chameleon: **_LMFAO i swear, if she finally gets fired at the end of the year, that'll be the greatest senior gift ever haha**  
**_**violinChick754: **_LOL I know right?**  
**_**chameleon: **_I wish I could hear u laugh

Duncan sighed as he clicked "send". It scared him when she didn't reply for a while, so he continued.

_**chameleon: **_you know, there was another part of the announcement; the prom?**  
**_**violinChick754: **_oh yeah! I almost forgot :P U excited? It's tomorrow.**  
**_**chameleon: **_I think I'll go for the free food heheh**  
**_**violinChick754: **_Hah, typical u. I dunno if I'm going myself.

Duncan frowned. _Well, _that's_ not a good sign._

_**chameleon: **_why ever not, your highness?**  
**_**violinChick754: **_well, if you must know, dances aren't really my thing. To be honest, if I went, it'd be my official first party. And you know my self-consciousness, being in a dress and all!**  
**_**chameleon: **_u need an escort?

**

* * *

**

Courtney smiled. _So he _did _want to meet. _She bit her lip anxiously. …_Right?_

_**violinChick754: **_yeah, I might  
_**chameleon: **_so, how about I meet you there?

She looked at her keypad attentively and quickly debated in her head whether she should say the polite "yes, please. Thank you." Or what she wanted to really wanted to put in the biggest font AIM had to offer: "**_HELL YES!_**"

But Courtney's fingers couldn't move. Her heart and her head said go for it, but her body just couldn't function.

_You know, there's a possible chance that he won't show up. Again. _She heard a devilish voice in the back of her head say.

_You don't know that, _she replied inside her head.

_And neither do __you__! _The voice snapped.

_Whatever! This is my only second chance, and I'm gonna take it._

Courtney felt whatever she was arguing with dissolve from her head as she forced her fingers to type.

_**violinChick754: **_sure, why not? We get a second shot at this =)

**

* * *

**

"_WOOHOO!_" Duncan whooped. He jumped up and stood on his bed victoriously, still holding his laptop over his head. He tried to control his volume while typing back swiftly.

_**chameleon: **_yes! Awesome!  
_**violinChick754: **_lol yay!  
_**violinChick754: **_what time?  
_**chameleon: **_well, the dance starts at 8:30pm, so how does 9pm sound? Middle of the dance floor?  
_**violinChick754: **_perfect. And corny, much? lol  
_**chameleon: **_hahah

Duncan chuckled once he settled down, catching his breath from a few seconds ago and sitting calmly back on his bed with the laptop on his knees.

_One last thing, _he thought, feeling a bit serious at that moment. Once he clicked "send", she had sent something at the same time, too.

_**chameleon:**__ …_exactly at 9, okay?  
_**violinChick754:**__ …_exactly 9pm, okay?

* * *

_Whoa. What the…? _Courtney paused shortly after clicking "send". She'd just unintentionally implied his little no-show last week… even though she promised herself she wouldn't mention it. _How come he's acting like I'm the one to blame about something…?_

After feeling confused for a couple of seconds, Courtney grinned and replied.

_**violinChick754: **_I promise. U?  
_**chameleon: **_promise. definitely. virtual pinky swear?  
_**violinChick754: **_lol *links pinkies together*  
_**chameleon: **_It's a masked event, you know  
_**violinChick754: **_wow! seriously?  
_**chameleon: **_don't worry your pretty little head off, princess. It'll all narrow down tomorrow. c u there.  
_**violinChick754: **_can't wait :') c u.

She sighed in relief and smiled, feeling a heavy weight being lifted from her shoulders. Courtney logged off, closed her laptop, and fell back onto her bed laughing.

"So?" Bridgette asked eagerly, putting down the book on the bedside table.

Courtney merely nodded at her friend with a glassy eyed expression that had "_success!_" written all over it.

The surfer girl jumped up from her bed in happiness and grabbed Courtney's wrist.

"C'mon! We gotta get to some dress stores before they close and run out tomorrow!" Bridgette exclaimed, pulling her friend up from her bed and towards the door.

"What?" Courtney yelped, plopping onto the floor near the door to get her shoes on. "It's 10:30, Bridge! Stores wouldn't be open at 10:30 anyway!"

But before Courtney could protest even more, they were already out the door, sprinting down the hall and out the exit doors.

* * *

"Okay, so, let me get this straight. You want _me _to go to _prom _just so I can follow your _plan _to ruin someone's _night_?" A handsome, mannequin-like young man asked incredulously. He was sitting on one of the couches in the lounge, looking curiously at the teenage girl standing in front of him. "Who is this person exactly?"

"Courtney," Heather stated simply. "Courtney Sanders. Enough said."

The attractive teen looked up at her, confused. "Okay… I still don't get it. What'd she do to make you so peeved?"

Heather let out a frustrated groan, grabbing her hair and pulling at it. "Okay, story time, Justin!" She faked a gentle voice.

"Duncan and I were perfectly happy together. It was pretty obvious that when _I _came along and we hooked up, his life changed for the _better. _Then suddenly, he just broke up with me! Right out of nowhere!

"No one knew exactly what made him do that, so I acted like there was nothing wrong, and that we were still together. And then, as if the awesome gods above answered my prayers, I found Duncan's little laptop completely _filled _with juicy eMails sent back and forth with this _girl. _I read _all of them, _dating back from sophomore year to now.

"That's when I found out that they were planning on meeting. I got the time, the day, the place, _everything._ And so, I eMailed his little bitch and changed the time and place. I stayed closeby that night to see who she was, and it was stupid, _pathetic, _Courtney!

"Now, just a few minutes ago, when everybody was all heartbroken and _I _was happy, I found their AIM conversations through Duncan's eMail. They're planning on meeting _again, _Justin! _Tomorrow_, at the _Prom_!" Heather hissed, taking in a deep breath from ranting.

Justin just looked at her, bewildered. "You know, I kinda actually _wanted _to have fun at the Prom tomorrow! What the hell do you want _me _to do about your crap?"

Heather smiled wickedly and came closer to lightly touch his muscular arm.

She whispered in his ear seductively as he shivered. "I'll tellyou _exactly_ what I want you to do…"

o0O0o

**A/N: Teehee, Heather is officially a creepy, pedophile-y rapist. Wasn't she always? I'm watching TDWT right now… eh… Sierra's really weird… lol.  
****Anyways, as I mentioned on top before, this is probably the last time I'll be updating quickly. I love this story to death, and I got to make a lot of progress with it for the past few days, but that was because I had a lot of time on my hands. Now, I'm (SADLY) going back to art classes soon -_- yep.  
****But guess what? Chapter 7's gonna be a total RIOT! Why? Because I fully planned it out when I was taking a break! Woot woot!  
****So, see you guys in a couple of days! Review please! ;)**

**With mucho love, Raf.**

**BTW, I just watched the TRAILER of TDWT and I AM HEARTBROKEN. For those who don't know what I am talking about, I'll just say- DUNCAN AND GWEN KISSED 8O I WAS DEVASTATED. Anyone care to rant and cope with me? T-T**


	7. The 2nd Meeting

**A/N: Well, guys, here it is. The longest, most emotional chapter that "YGM!" has seen yet! Enjoy!**

o0O0o

"Dude, it's 8:20. I'm gonna go get Bridge; wanna come?" Geoff suggested, knocking on the door of the bathroom.

"Fine, fine." Duncan sighed, opening the door and fiddling with his dark grey tie nervously. He fitted a dark tuxedo loosely, trying to look as casual as possible. He smacked on his dark grey mask that covered half of his face and folded his arms, feeling a bit aggravated.

He cringed a bit as Geoff patted him on the back, noticing how much he was fidgeting.

"It's all gonna be worth it when you get to that dance floor," the blonde reassured, walking out the door and into the hall. Duncan followed close behind.

Duncan scoffed. He remembered earlier that morning, searching frantically for something to wear. It disturbed him, since it was the first time that he was ever concerned about something like that. Besides, prom was prom; not some night club. Geoff, being prepared for any party of course, lent him one of his tuxes. The blonde wore a similar suit, but had a light blue tie (he had no mask because he was the DJ of the Prom, so instead, he sported his regular cowboy hat).

After a couple of seconds, they reached the girls' dormitory.

Geoff knocked on the door. "Bridge! You ready?"

"U-Um, not yet! I'll be there in a second, sweetie!" They heard Bridgette say from the other side of the door.

"Go ahead, Bridge, I'll meet you down there," The two guys heard another voice from inside the room whisper.

The door opened, and Bridgette stepped out in a strapless, light blue, layered dress that fell just below her knees. A big, blue bow sat prettily on the neckline of her dress, similar to the ones on her blue high heels. Her sapphire-colored sequined mask complimented her green eyes.

"Courtney will meet us there," She said, noticing how Geoff was gazing at her. He grinned goofily at the sight of her and slung an arm around her shoulders.

"Let's go," Geoff said seductively, Bridgette giggling and poking his chest. Duncan looked at his friend, startled. _What the hell happened to _you_, dude? _He thought, rolling his eyes.

The 3 made their way down the side stairs to the gym, which was booming with loud rap music and laughter. Someone had built a large staircase outside the gym doors, leading to the party. A spotlight shone brightly, keeping its focus at the entrance. The huge school sound system boomed proudly on the other side of the handmade staircase. There were streamers along the walls, and a flashing disco ball hovered over the center of the large dark room above the crowded dance floor. Some people were huddled in crowds, surrounding someone who was break dancing or showing off some ghetto dance move. There were some foldable chairs lined near the packed refreshments tables, where several teens were lounging and talking.

"Care to dance?" Duncan barely heard Geoff asked Bridgette, and within a matter of seconds, the two lovebirds ran towards the center of the gym. It didn't take long before Duncan lost sight of them in the sea of people.

Duncan leaned casually against the bottom of the staircase's railing, his eyes trailing to the middle of the dance floor, which was below the disco ball. He looked at his watch. _8:36pm, _it said. _Only 24 minutes to go…_

_

* * *

_

_Shit, shit, shit! _Courtney cursed in her head, looking underneath her bed and then Bridgette's.

She could feel the beat of the music coming from the gym under her feet, and the pulse was just adding to the headache she had, since she couldn't find her shoes and her mask.

Courtney spotted a shoe box sitting near her book bag that was by the door. _There it is! _She dug into it and pulled out silver ballet flats with matching-color roses on the toes. Her sequin studded silver mask was lying on the ground not too far away, so Courtney simply grabbed it.

After quickly tugging them on and reaching for the door handle, she took one last look at herself in the mirror close by. Bridgette had helped her with the shopping earlier that morning, since the stores were already closed when they tried the night before. She wore a strapless silver bubble dress, the neckline resting comfortably over her chest. The ruffled, layered part covering her from the waist down to her knees fitted her perfectly. It wasn't flashy, but it didn't make her look cheap, which was the way Courtney liked it. **(A/N: go on ecrater and look up "****cheap silver cocktail dress bubble"****)**

_Alright, Court. _She encouraged herself, gripping onto her mask tightly. _Tonight's the night._

Before letting her self consciousness take over and have second thoughts about her appearance, she ran out the door and speed walked down the side stairs towards the gym.

* * *

Duncan gulped down the rest of his coke and tossed it into the nearest recycle can. It was only 8:40, and nothing different really happened so far. He was only waiting for the clock to strike 9pm, but meanwhile, he felt pretty bored.

"Duncan!" An annoying voice squealed loudly in his ear over the music.

He jumped, seeing Heather's face beaming obnoxiously close to the side of his face. She sported a dark red mini dress that looked about 4 sizes smaller than what she really should be wearing. The neckline was very low, showing a lot of cleavage. Duncan shuddered in disgust.

"Are you liking the party so far?" Heather slowly screamed to him so he could understand her through a loud Black Eyed Peas song, which was fading to an end.

Before Duncan could reply, he heard a couple of wolf whistles and whoops behind him up the stairs. He turned around to see a blushing Courtney walking innocently through the gym entrance, and an upbeat acoustic guitar intro came on as soon as she reached the top step. She blocked the bright spotlight from her eyes with a hand since it was obviously blinding her. She kept her head down instead, using her hand to try to pull down her dress modestly over her knees. Her other hand was grasping her silver mask.

Duncan's jaw dropped. "Yeah… yeah, I am," He answered Heather's question, still looking up at Courtney in bewilderment. When did the girl who peeved him off almost every single day turn out to be pretty… _hot? _It shocked him how someone like her could be so insecure and awkward about how she looked like.

Heather scoffed and strutted away, but Duncan didn't even notice. Courtney sheepishly made her way slowly down the steps, trying not to fall or trip. The song that began when she walked in continued, with the lyrics catching Duncan's attention as he watched her.

_Oh princess, __you make the party__  
__With your hands __in your pockets__  
__And your innocent eyes__  
__And all those things__,  
__Running around in your head_

Courtney reached the bottom of the staircase, her eyes sparkling in amazement as she gazed at the scenery. It was everything she hoped it would be.

She felt someone tap her shoulder, only to turn around to see a Duncan. His mask wasn't enough to cover up his signature smirk.

"Wow, you cleaned up nicely," Courtney said, showing a hint of sarcasm in her voice. But to be honest, he didn't really look too bad…

"And you look really…" Duncan began, but then stopped. "Decent."

Courtney rolled her eyes and lightly punched his shoulder in response, laughing a bit.

Some boys "wow-ed" at Courtney, to which their dates smacked them on the chest to get their attention back. Courtney giggled in response, but Duncan couldn't help but scowl a little.

_Oh princess, you make the party__  
__You've been everybody's darling now__  
__Everybody's win__  
__Bold for the boys who__, __keep you guessing__  
__And all those things,__  
__Running around..._

"Where's Bridgette?" Courtney asked, more to herself than to Duncan. Her eyes swept over the entire room, looking for her blonde friend.

"Out on the dance floor grinding with Geoff," Duncan suggested out loud, snickering to himself.

Courtney sent him heated glare, followed by a sigh. "Well, I guess I'll go…get a drink or something. What time is it?"

Duncan glanced over his watch. "8:45pm," he responded simply.

"Thanks," Courtney said, smiling at him, which was something that happened rarely.

She turned to leave for the refreshments table. "Uh, Princess?" Duncan called hesitantly.

Courtney looked behind her shoulder at him questioningly, and he walked closer.

_And "all my pauses, they're all stops anyway"  
__You would say...  
__And "all pauses, they're all stops anyway  
__A__nd I could really use a win"_

He took the silver mask from her hand, which had loosened its grip on it. Courtney gasped and was ready to snatch it away from him, until he simply placed it onto her face. His arms dropped to his sides when he was sure that the mask was positioned perfectly, and he stepped back to look at her full appearance.

Courtney blushed and looked away, letting some of her bangs help cover her reddened face. "W-What was that for?"

Duncan stopped breathing for a second. _Wait… what _was _that for? _He pondered.

He smirked as he gently reached out to brush away some of her bangs, causing her to blush even more. "So the mask covers that face of yours."

"Hey! Like _your _mask does you any justice either, _ogre!_" Courtney snapped as her mood shifting instantly, which amused Duncan even more. After a few seconds of silence, they started to laugh.

_Oh princess,__you act like the answer__  
__With your hands__, __all over me__  
__Promising to be here__when the world comes down__  
__With all those things__  
__Running around...__  
_

"So," Duncan began, calming down a bit. "You gonna go dance?"

Courtney looked hesitant. "Eh…nah. I don't think so."

He arched an eyebrow. "What's wrong, Princess? Think you're too good for this?"

"No! Ugh… if you must know…" Courtney bit her lip. _He's gonna laugh at me for sure. _"…This is my first party. Ever."

Duncan looked stunned. _What? A girl like _her _never being in a party before? Psh! _

"Okay, before you start laughing…" Courtney started to rub her temples with her fore fingers, obviously irritated at the truth.

"No, _I'm _not gonna _laugh_. I'm just going to simply _push_ _you _to the dance floor." Duncan took Courtney by the shoulders and began to lead her to the center of the room.

"Wait, what? Duncan, no!" She tried to avoid stepping onto the floor, tripping a little bit.

"Oh, c'mon! You picked the perfect party to be your first! You gotta dance!"

_And "all my pauses they're all stops anyway"__  
__You would say...__  
__And "oh, I could really use the win…__  
__I could really use the win"…_

Courtney sighed and grumpily stepped into the center. Duncan smirked and stood in front of her, beginning to sway to the music.

"That's the thing," Courtney deadpanned, loud enough for only Duncan to hear. "I-I don't know how to dance…"

"Just let the music move you," He said, dancing to the beat of the song.

_I don't mind, baby__  
__Just spill your secrets on me..._

It didn't take long before Courtney began to bob her head slightly to the pulse of the song. She unfolded her crossed arms as she stepped smoothly to the rhythm, swaying her arms along too. A smile made its way across her face as she started to let loose and swayed her hips perfectly with the tempo. Courtney raised her hands in the air like the other teens on the dance floor, and her arms eventually found themselves wrapped around Duncan's neck, much to his surprise.

It was a side of Courtney that Duncan had never seen before, always thinking of her as just an uptight stick-in-the-mud who does nothing but study, but he knew that she was proving him wrong with every move she made.

_Oh princess.__  
__You're ready for greatness__  
__All edited and weightless__; __Never more alive__  
__And oh dear,__how they'll whisper your name__  
__In time…In time…In… time…_

Once the song ended, Duncan and Courtney heard Geoff's voice boom through the speakers of the sound system up front. Courtney noticed Bridgette standing next to him, looking to her.

"How's everyone tonight?" he shouted, followed by whoops and cheers from around the gym. "It'll officially be an hour through the Prom in exactly _one minute._" Geoff looked straight at Duncan and made eye contact, trying to hint to him what he was trying to say.

"That's right!" Bridgette grabbed the microphone from Geoff, getting Courtney's attention. "_One minute!_"

As soon as Courtney remembered what she had to do, she looked up to where her arms were and realized that they were still wrapped around Duncan's neck. They both pulled away from each other awkwardly.

"Um…I'm gonna go get a drink," Duncan said, looking to the middle of the dance floor to see if anyone was standing there. Geoff began to play a slow song, and the couples on the floor held each other. Some people were walking away to get some snacks, so there was some room. But, no one stood underneath the disco ball.

"Yeah…" Courtney replied, looking the same way. "I'm just gonna go…"

The two walked away in different directions, with only one goal in their mind.

* * *

"Look, Gwen!" Heather said, her arm wrapped around a nervous looking goth girl. The raven-haired girl pointed to Duncan, who was walking to the refreshments and grabbing a Coke. "There's your chance! And remember what I told you: he _loves _you. Don't forget that. Good luck!"

Heather shoved her "friend" towards the table. She knew Gwen and Duncan were friends, and the reason why they haven't really hung out anymore was because Heather and Duncan started to date. Once they broke up, Gwen began to harbor feelings for Duncan, which Heather knew as well. It was the perfect distraction.

"H-Hey," Gwen tapped Duncan's shoulder anxiously. She wore a black mask, sequined with clear shiny flecks, and a matching-colored dress that hung down to her knees with a lacy neckline around her neck along with a black choker. A grey belt lay around her waist, and fishnet stockings covered her legs. It was as if Gwen was going to a funeral instead of a party.

Duncan turned around, but kept his eyes to the center of the gym. "Oh, hi," he replied hurriedly, taking a drink nervously from his 2nd can of soda.

"So… what's the rush?" She asked, trying to see what he was looking at.

"Oh, uh, nothing! I'm just… uh… wait, what time is it?" He hastily asked, still not even looking at her.

Gwen cocked an eyebrow. "It's just 9:02… but Duncan, I-"

"_9:02?_" Duncan exclaimed. He dropped his Coke and started to make a break for the dance floor.

"Duncan, wait!" The goth grabbed his arm quickly before he slipped away.

He turned around and glared at her grip on his sleeve, obviously aggravated. _There is absolutely no way I'm gonna miss my chance again._

"I-I just wanted to say," She stammered, blush arising on her pale white cheeks. "I r-really like you, too."

Duncan stared at her, unable to speak. He sort of suspected that she liked him, but she just had to confess at the perfectly wrong time. But he had never felt the same way about her, so why did Gwen say that she liked him "_too_"?

Heather watched her plan unfold flawlessly not too far away from the two. She spotted a love struck Courtney, walking near the border of the dance floor as she watched the other couples sway to the soft music. It was now time to commence phase two.

Justin came up from behind Heather and wrapped his arms around her waist, keeping his eyes locked on Courtney as well. He had on a full mask, which was silver and black. "I guess this is my cue…" Justin said, lifting his disguise a little to peck Heather on the cheek.

"Give it all you got, darling," Heather said seductively as Justin started to walk toward the dance floor. She bent down a little bit, giving him a little peek as the neckline of her dress dropped a little and showed more of her chest.

The model felt his body tense up at the sight of it, but shone a sparkly smile at her before turning back around to make his move. The night before, Heather had made a deal with him: he would do this for her, and his reward would be her. It was as simple as that.

* * *

Courtney squeezed through some couples, making her way below the slow rotating disco ball. She stood beneath the glow of the light and wrapped her arms around herself. She looked around, feeling… _vulnerable_.

She immediately shook off the feeling. _Ha! Courtney Sanders is _not _vulnerable! What am I thinking?_

Everyone outside the dance floor was probably wondering why she was just standing there, alone, surrounded by happy couples holding each other. But she didn't care; the only thing she could think of was _chameleon, _which didn't make her feel so lonely…

Suddenly, she felt a breeze blow from behind her, sweeping some of her hair in front of her face. After a few seconds of space, someone lightly tapped her on the shoulder from behind.

"…_violinChick754_?" A smooth, serious voice asked in her ear. Courtney shivered in excitement at the unfamiliarity of the voice, not recognizing it one bit.

Courtney held her breath as she slowly turned around, and a silver and black grinning mask greeted her wide eyes. It was a full mask, and instead of a human mouth, a wicked, crooked smile took its place. One half of the disguise was black with a silver diamond over the eye hole while the other was in the reverse color.

She bit her lip nervously, hoping that her mask was enough to cover her blush. Unable to control her feelings any longer, Courtney stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, receiving some "awwws" from some people around them.

"So… you know who I am?" She asked, wondering if they had ever had a conversation in school before. She kept her arms around him, savoring the moment as much as she could.

His body was as stiff as a board, and his arms remained glued to his sides. "Of course I do; you're the girl I've been eMailing for more than half of high school."

Courtney smiled against his chest. "Do I know you?" She asked, hoping he would remove his mask, show his true identity, and say "All your life."

"Only the chameleon part…" He answered in his monotonous tone.

She shyly stepped back to smile at him, reaching to put her hand gently on his arm so he could relax and lose the nervousness. But, much to her surprise, his emotionless attitude turned bitter.

"The thing is… you know nothing about me." he said coldly, stepping back sharply from her touch.

Courtney pulled her hand back quickly, looking at him confusingly. "…Are you okay? Do you want to go get a snack or a drink and rela-?"

"I want nothing to do with you." The guy deadpanned, interrupting her. Courtney looked at him wide eyed in shock. _…What is he talking about…?_

"I know you have feelings for me, but I simply do not return your affection. I just came to tell you that I cannot pretend anymore." He stated. She felt his words turning into icy daggers, taking a clear shot right to her heart.

"Please don't contact me any longer. I am deeply sorry."

And with that, he walked away.

Courtney, with a shaky hand, reached up to her face. Once she got a hold of her mask, she ripped it off clean from her head. Tears freely streamed down her flustered face as she stepped away from below the disco ball and towards the stairs.

"…Courtney?" She heard Bridgette's voice trailing over the soft ballad that was still playing through the speakers. "Courtney! Court, wait!"

But it only caused said girl to walk faster up the stairs. The slow song playing had faded to its ending as she hastily made her way out the entrance door, only thinking one thing:

_Screw it. I _am _vulnerable._

_

* * *

_

"Look, Gwen, let's talk about this later," Duncan reassured the grief-stricken goth girl. He glanced at his watch worriedly. _9:17pm._

"No, Duncan!" Gwen snapped, her mask now dripping with tears. "We need to talk about this _now. _Ever since you've dated Heather, I've been completely ignored for the past 2 years! I'm sick and tired of it! Why can't you stay just long enough to explain?"

He felt tired just thinking about how many things were going so wrong so fast. As much as he wanted to meet with his love on the dance floor in time, he wanted to let Gwen down as nicely as he could so he wouldn't lose a good friend. But… he just didn't have enough time to do both at once.

Thinking quickly, Duncan sighed as he simply put his hands on Gwen's shoulders. She closed her eyes and leaned in, but he kept her still. He lifted her chin to meet her eyes. "…I'm sorry."

As the last dance song finished, he walked away, leaving Gwen all by herself.

Heather, emerging from the shadows behind Gwen, put an arm around the brokenhearted teen. "Whoops, I guess he didn't feel the same way after all. Sorry!" She immediately pulled away before Gwen could grasp her arm and rip it off.

"Alright, seniors," Duncan heard Geoff's voice echo through the speakers as he made his way into the dance floor. "Principal Spina just announced that the Prom would officially be ending at _9:20pm, _so make the most of this last song."

Duncan looked up at his blonde friend, who was starting to pack up the sound system equipment as a calm piano played through the amplifiers. Geoff hesitantly gave him an encouraging nod and a thumbs up before walking away to share a last dance with Bridgette.

The lights from the disco ball overhead began to dim as the song progressed, and Duncan wiped the sweat from his forehead and waited.

_Tried to take a picture__, __Of love…__  
__Didn't think I'd miss her__, __That much__…__  
__I want to fill this new frame__  
__But it's empty_

_Tried to write a letter__, __In ink__…__  
__It's been getting better__; __I think…__  
__I got a piece of paper__  
__But it's empty…It's empty__…_

He took a good look through the holes of his mask at the people surrounding him. Everyone had a partner to hold; even Harold! Gwen had also found herself in the arms of a guy in his Music Class, Trent. Teens were on and off of the dance floor, embracing each other as if the world was ending and their lives depended on it. Geoff and Bridgette were by the DJ table up front, swaying. Everyone had a partner to hold except for him.

_Maybe we're trying__…__trying too hard__  
__Maybe we're torn apart__  
__Maybe the timing__, __is beating our hearts…__  
__We're empty_

Duncan nervously pulled at his dog collar, which he kept on even though he was wearing a tux. He had listened to this song before, like the time when he was younger and his parents were fighting. He knew that it was ending really soon.

Suddenly, he felt someone tap his shoulder. Duncan swiftly turned around, but he felt his fists tighten when it turned out to be just Heather.

_And I've even wondered__, __If we…__  
__Should be getting under, These sheets…__  
__We could lie in this bed__  
__But it's empty__…__It's empty…_

"So... Duncan..." She said, laying a hand softly on his chest. "Waiting for me?"

_Maybe we're trying__…__trying too hard__  
__Maybe we're torn apart__  
__Maybe the timing__, __is beating our hearts…__  
__We're empty…__ Oh, oh__  
__Oh, oh…_

He backed away from her, looking distraught. Duncan shook his head and snarled at her. "...Get _away_ from me, you little bitch... You just can't get enough, can you? Don't you get it already? I'm _never _going back to you. "

_Maybe we're trying__…__trying too hard__  
__Maybe we're torn apart__  
__Maybe the timing__, __is beating our hearts…__  
__We're empty…_

Duncan left Heather gawking below the disco ball. He stepped from the center of the gym to the stairs and out the entrance door. His heart beat fast as he felt his 2nd and probably _last_ chance at meeting _violinChick754_ fade away, along with the last few words of the song. He wandered his way up to his room, letting the fading words echo through his head.

…_We're empty…_

o0O0o

**A/N: *sad face* Don't worry, guys. They might have it bad for now, but D and C will eventually find each other; I guarantee it! Well, I **_**did **_**say eventually, teehee…**

**ANYWAYS! This chapter was like a huge series of songfics! :D ****1st song was "Princess" by Matt Nathanson, t****he slow song during Courtney's heart break moment was "Vulnerable" by Secondhand Serenade, and the last ****was "Empty" by the Click 5. I'd also like to mention that Gwen said a line from Paramore's "When It Rains"!**

**Speaking of Gwen… GAG. I just added her in so Duncan could just tell her "NO" lol. So, you guys know what to do! Please review! ~Raf**

****BTW! I got a formspring! So if you have any questions about this story, that story, me, or anything, then go to my Profile, Links, and then click on the formspring one. :)**


	8. Burning Bridges

**A/N: Hey hey, everyone! Mucho thankies for all the wonderful reviews so far! I just wanted to say that before anyone decides to give up on this story since Duncan and Courtney have been through a lot trying to ****meet each other, don't lose hope! Things will turn around eventually! I guarantee it! You'll see why soon by the end of this chappie ;D Enjoy!**

o0O0o

"Yeah, man. I mean, it really sucks how Spina made me cut the Prom short..." Geoff said, disappointed.

It was early Thursday morning, and the 4 teens got to their cafeteria table before breakfast hour even started. School was out for the day, since the reason why the night before ended quickly was because of a major food fight that left the walls of the gym covered with junk food and soda.

Bridgette barely managed to drag a heartbroken Courtney from her tear-soaked pillow, while Geoff got to calm down an enraged Duncan before he completely destroyed his 2nd laptop out of grief.

"Seriously! C'mon... Me hosting a party that only lasted _an hour and a half?_ That's disgraceful to the mighty party gods up above!" Geoff continued with his ranting, throwing his arms in the air.

Courtney tried to stifle a brief sob by dropping her head sharply onto the table. "... How could he just come, say all that to my face, and leave me standing there all alone...? I just don't understand..."

"Court, at least he came! And he said sorry at the end anyway…" Bridgette gently patted her poor friend on the back.

The two boys shared a confused expression. "Why? What happened?" Duncan asked lazily, propping his head up with a hand. His usual smirk seemed to be erased permanently from his face.

Courtney and Bridgette quickly exchanged worried glances. _Damn it… _Courtney cursed in her head. _Looks like I let stupid chameleon get the best of me... Ugh!__  
_  
"None of your business," Courtney sighed, slamming her head back down to the table.

Duncan groaned in frustration and mimicked her abrupt movement. As Bridgette shook her head sadly at the two depressed teens, Geoff patted Duncan's head sympathetically.

"He's had a pretty rough night, too."

"Aw! We have so much in common! We both have lovesick roommates!" Bridgette exclaimed, throwing her arms around the blonde.

As they proceeded into an intense make out session, Courtney and Duncan both griped in annoyance simultaneously.

"That's it!" Duncan shot up from his chair angrily with his clenched fists on the table. "I'm going back to my room."

"Escape while you can," muttered Courtney as the delinquent ran through the cafeteria doors and towards his dorm.

* * *

Duncan lay on his bed and stared up at the white ceiling, arms crossed behind his head. Even though he knew he shouldn't care, he still couldn't believe that he wasted away his Prom just for that _violinChick754_. He had been waiting for that moment ever since sophomore year, and to have it all crash, burn, and waste away just in one night…  
It sucked.

Before dozing off to the sleep he was deprived of for 3 years, he heard light knocking coming from the other side of the door.

Duncan grumbled in exasperation. _Where could I get any privacy in this whole school? Even my _room_ is out of the freakin' question…_

"Go away," He shouted, slinging an arm over his eyes as he tried to go to sleep once more.

After a few seconds of pure silence, the light knocking erupted into a series of hard poundings against the door's wood. Duncan jumped up from his bed, his mood instantly switching from startled to anger. He stomped over to the door and swung it open.

"I _said…_ _GO AWA_-" A set of lips crashed and smothered onto his own, cutting him off and shoving him back into his room.

They knocked into the bedside table, causing the alarm clock and lamp to fall to the ground and shatter to pieces. Duncan felt himself being propelled onto his bed as whoever was attacking him jumped and straddled his hips. He refused to kiss back, since it felt like the thing that was slobbering all over his mouth was a dog. When he started to feel his shirt getting ripped off, his eyes finally shot open to see Heather on top of him, licking his mouth.

"God, _sick!_" Duncan screamed, grabbing her from the waist and sending her towards the door. He put his shirt back on properly and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. _I was right, _he thought, purely disgusted with what just happened. _It _was_ a dog._

"Dun-cy!" Heather purred and pouted, crawling seductively towards Duncan. "Whatever are you talking about?"

"Didn't you get _anything _that I've said last night? I'M. NEVER. GOING. BACK. TO. _YOU._" Duncan snarled, looking down at her in fumes.

Heather's face twisted, from her previous "desperate-beggar" look to an "enraged-nuthouse" expression. A shadow loomed onto her face, even the room was already pretty dark with the curtains drawn.

"Do you _know_ what I've been through to get here?" She asked, her left eye twitching. "I spent my time _talking_ and _eMailing_ _losers_, just so I could finally get to you. And in the end, when I'm _supposed_ to get what _I _want, you _**reject**_ me?"

Duncan was taking aback. _Emailing? _"…What the _hell_ are you talking about?" He asked, suddenly suspicious.

Heather smiled wickedly. She pulled herself from the floor, flipped her hair over her shoulder, and crossed her arms over her chest. "You want a story? Fine! You know how you _lost_ your laptop on one of the benches at the Center last Friday? Yeah, well, _I _took it."

_Holy frick, _Duncan thought, his eyes widening with every word that came out of Heather's mouth. It suddenly started to make sense…

"I was gonna give it back; I thought it'd be a pretty good way to lure you back. But when I opened it, I saw that I was holding the _perfect revenge_ right in _my_ hands. There was _no_ friggin' way I was gonna give it back!" She continued, laughing cruelly as if it was totally obvious. "So, I eMailed that pathetic little _violinChick-_whatever back, using _your _account, changing the time and place where you guys would be meeting. When I waited for her to come out, like, a couple of hours after _you_ left, I finally figured out who she was. It made _perfect_ sense!"

_So I _did_ see her laughing outside that Friday night! _Duncan thought quickly. _But… who was she laughing at again…?_

"I thought I'd be done with you. The two of you _stupid lovebirds_. I thought I'd finally have you all to myself once that _bitch_ was gone." Heather growled, suddenly enraged. "But _no. _Geoff just _had_ to mention the freakin' Prom, and then you and _her_ started talking again, thinking that you could give your _little meeting_ another chance. Well, _HA!_" She shouted. "You can't get away from me that easily, sweetie!

"Your AIM is connected to your eMail, _dumbass_. I can track _everything you say_ with just an opening of a certain laptop! So, I _convinced_ little Justin to work for me. I even told that Gwen bitch that you liked her so she'd be an amazing distraction for you at the dance. And it was absolutely _perfect_! While she was spilling her gothic guts to you, your little _penpal_ was on the dance floor getting her heart broken by Justin! I tried comforting you when she didn't show up, but you just walked out on me! So, I just figured you wanted some time _alone…_"

Duncan's fists clenched as the raven-haired girl slowly made her way toward him. She grazed a single hand against his cheek, which was reddening with anger. Suddenly, Duncan's hands shot up, clutching Heather's throat.

The door slammed open. "Dude! Stop!" Geoff's voice rang through the room, shouting over Heather's gagging and gasps for air.

Duncan ignored his shocked friend and just kept strangling Heather. Anger blurred his vision as his grip on her fragile throat tightened.

Something tackled him, and Heather collapsed to the ground panting. Duncan turned his head to the side as it slammed onto the carpeted floor of the room, seeing a startled Bridgette and Courtney at the door. Geoff was on top of him, pinning his arms down and shouting at him to "chill".

The last thing Duncan saw was Courtney sprinting away from the doorway and down the hall. He shut his eyes and started yelling at the top of his lungs. "I've been played! Geoff, I have to fix it before high school ends! That bitch tricked everyone! She won't get away with it!"

"I know, dude! I heard the whole thing!" Geoff yelled back, holding his arms firmly to the ground. "Just… just calm down! She won't get away…"

But Heather was dragging herself toward the doorway, and Bridgette gave her way. She managed to pull herself from the floor once more, and before completely walking out, she whipped around and sent Duncan a death glare. "If you won't love me, I'll make sure _no one will!_" She threatened. "You and Courtney will _never _be together!"

As she stomped out the door, Bridgette ran in and helped Geoff and Duncan back onto their feet. She demanded justification from the both of them, since her and Courtney found Geoff peering into his room just after Heather had explained everything to Duncan.

Why was Duncan choking Heather? Why did he almost kill her? Why was he screaming that she had "tricked everyone"?

While Geoff tried to simmer down his confused girlfriend and made up a cover story, Duncan ignored her questions and kept his eyes through the open doorway. He only had one question in his mind:

_Why did Heather say that me and _**Courtney**_ will never be together?_

o0O0o

**A/N: Some sort of cliffie! So, Duncan knows now. Obviously lol. What's he gonna do now that he knows? Will he ask for one last chance or drop it? Discussion!**

**I know that this chapter is pretty short compared to how long I usually write, but ah well. I wanted to reassure everyone that everything will be okay! Soon. :3**

**I sorta wish Duncan finished Heather off now. Dang, I gotta make an extra chapter of him and Courtney slaughtering her after this story's over xD Hmm… I'll think about it C:**

**Well anyway, art class is starting again on Tuesday. Dammit. Another stupid day being ignored by older classmates and getting myself embarrassed. Pray for me, guys xP I'll try to update soon. Review please! ~Raf**


	9. One Last Chance

o0O0o

"Dude, what the _hell_ were you thinking?" Geoff shut the door of their room a few seconds after Bridgette left.

Duncan paced back and forth, running his fingers through his messy Mohawk. He had just almost strangled his ex-girlfriend to death, and he definitely would've finished her off, until Geoff came and held him back from doing so.

"You could've _killed_ her!" His friend exclaimed, picking up his cowboy hat that was lying on the ground nearby.

"That was the idea," Duncan simply stated. His teal eyes suddenly turned grayish, but he shook his head and looked at a speechless Geoff. "Okay, look, she basically almost raped me. And how long were you by the door, anyway?"

"Long enough," Geoff shrugged, sitting calmly on his bed and watching Duncan pace some more. "I heard Heather explain everything."

Duncan fell back onto his own bed in frustration and covered his eyes with an arm. "It's just so… so freakin' impossible! How, after 3 f-ing years, could that _violin _girl be Courtney? Whenever we have a conversation like in school, we're always arguing about pointless shit. We never just talk like how we do online…"

A few seconds of silence passed by them slowly before Geoff suggested brightly, "I think you guys should try to meet again."

The green-haired teen sat up abruptly and looked at Geoff as if he was completely insane.

"What?" The blonde asked, smiling innocently. "You know that Heather's been behind all the crap you've been through, and that it's not Courtney's fault that she never showed up as planned! Why not give it one last chance?"

"Because!" Duncan shot up from his bed and threw his arms in the air in aggravation. "Princess doesn't know the things I know now! And I can't eMail her without Heather knowing… She wouldn't be up for it anyway; it's already failed twice and I doubt she'd wanna go through it again."

Geoff shook his head and sighed. "Well, if you're gonna do something about it, you better do it soon! School ends in, like, another few weeks."

Suddenly, Duncan darted to the door and swung it open. "I need to find her. Now."

His startled friend looked at him strangely. "Who, Mocha? What exactly are you gonna say?"

Duncan left the door open, ran through the hallway doors, and down the nearby stairs. "Who knows? I just need to talk to her!" He yelled over his shoulder as he slid down the railing.

_I just have to convince her that it'll finally go our way, _Duncan thought as he jumped from the rail and onto the 1st floor landing. He darted past a couple of pissed-looking teachers and through the exit doors. _And I know just where to find her._

_

* * *

_

Courtney leaned against the big oak tree, which overlooked mostly every inch of the entire campus. She found this place during the first few days of freshman year, before she met Bridgette or anyone she knew now. After accidentally getting a bad grade and not knowing how to cover it up from her strict parents, she escaped to here and figured it out, and the oak tree soon became visited frequently. Courtney always went there with the worst situations and sorted them out perfectly at this very spot, so how come it was taking so long now?

_Seeing Duncan choking Heather with his bare hands was freakin' terrifying! _Courtney already knew that he's been to juvy more than he should, but she never knew why. _Could he have…?_

Her inner voice piped up. _That's so stupid! You actually think that he killed someone? _

Courtney sighed in annoyance. _Okay, so maybe he was just angry for some reason, and yes, Heather's a bitch, but I don't want to see people killing people right in front of me! That's why I ran away…_

_You've got other things to work out other than Duncan's problems, Courtney. _The voice reminded her. _Chameleon?_

She glared off into the distance, trying to imagine her inner voice in front of her. _What's there to work out about that bastard? He played me. For 3 freakin' years! Courtney Sanders does NOT-_

"You know, if you keep scrunching up your face like that, it's gonna stay that way," A too-familiar voice said from behind her, interrupting her thoughts.

Courtney straightened her posture and whipped her head around in disbelief to see a smirking Duncan make his way toward her. She rolled her eyes and groaned. _This is _so _not what I need right now._

"Well, you look happy to see me." He sat down near her and looked out at the campus below them.

Courtney watched him wide eyed and started to scoot away from him. "How'd you find me? Why'd you come here? Did you kill Heather? Oh my God, you killed Heather! Oh, Christ! You killed her! I gotta call the poli-" She started to reach for her PDA in her back pocket, but Duncan caught her wrist.

"Whoa, slow down, your highness. Heather's fine." _For now. _Duncan thought, gritting his teeth. "And I've seen you come here a couple of times. You can't keep everything a secret, Princess."

Her eyes stung with tears but she quickly blinked them away. "Don't call me that," she groaned. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the tree, pulling herself out of Duncan's grip. "And you don't know anything about me."

"More than you know," Duncan said, looking at her seriously. Courtney met his gaze and stared at him strangely for the 2nd time that day. _What…?_

"Anyway…" She continued, getting weirded out about his odd behavior. "What are you doing here?"

Duncan shrugged carelessly. "Well, I was just bored, and since you're always running away to here, I figured that there must be a good reason why. I need a good mind-wash anyway, so yeah, I came and found you here."

He leaned back comfortably and rested his arms behind his head. Courtney glared at him.

"Well, don't get too comfortable here. The 'good reason' I come here all the time is so I can think things through… and _be alone_." She spat, but only got more frustrated when Duncan simply replied with a calm smirk.

"You're not the only one who has to think things through," He stated, closing his eyes.

"What's up with you?" Courtney asked, suddenly feeling curious.

"Well…" Duncan quickly roamed through his mind what kind of thing to talk about. A good idea popped into his head as he smirked cockily at the brown-haired teen. "Well, last night, Gwen said she liked me. _Loved me_, in fact."

Courtney felt a twinge of jealousy in her chest, but managed to fake a convincing smile. "You're always the last to know, you know that?"

His smirk faded a little, feeling oddly confused. "Whaddya mean?"

"You guys are perfect for each other. Well, from what I see and hear, you both like the same movies, music, and all that common stuff. I honestly don't see why you didn't hook up with her yet." Courtney shrugged, wondering why she felt elated that he never did make a move on Gwen yet.

"I-I dunno… I like us just being friends, that's all." Duncan replied truthfully.

"So that's why Geoff said you had a pretty rough night this morning."

Duncan eyed her carefully. "Yeah, I guess…" _If only she knew, _he thought, shaking his head. "I liked someone else at the time anyway, but it ended up being a total trainwreck, so whatever."

"You're so lucky."

"Uh, what?"

Courtney leaned her head against the oak tree and looked down at the campus instead of him. "The way you can just bounce right back after a tough night. I wish I could just shrug it off and say 'whatever' like you. You can just let it go easily…"

_You have no idea, _Duncan crossed his legs and relaxed into the spot of grass he was laying on. "So, what's _exactly_ on your mind?"

Courtney looked at him wearily and just shrugged her shoulders. "Too much, I guess."

"Care to share?"

"Yeah, _no._"

"Aw, c'mon, why not?"

"Because it's not like it's any of your business anyway!"

Duncan wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Then I'll make it my business."

Courtney felt some heat rise up to her face. "You revolting pervert! I thought I was actually having a conversation with you, but you just had to go and screw it all up like you always do." She bursted, but began to think that maybe she overacted a bit. Before standing up completely and walk away, she felt something grasp her wrist once again.

"Hey, just relax for a while, okay?" Duncan pulled her back down so that she was sitting beside him, but much closer than before. "You were acting pretty strange this morning. I just want to know what's bothering you."

Courtney watched as his eye color melted into this new shade of warm, deep turquoise. His softened face had "concerned" written all over it, and it was almost amusing.

"College?" Duncan suggested lazily. He remembered through eMails that they were both thinking of going to Princeton, but maybe she was still going?

Courtney shrugged. "Well… that's part of it, now that I think of it. I was considering Princeton, but I don't think so anymore…"

He looked at her weirdly. "Why the sudden change, Princess?"

When she only responded with silence, Duncan continued to press on.

"Did something happen at Prom?" he asked, leaning closer and locking his eyes on her.

She felt the tears sprang back up again and began to well in her eyes, and she couldn't blink them away as easily as before. "N-No! Well… let's just say i-it didn't really go exactly the way I p-planned it to be…"

And with that, Courtney let a small, silent tear slide down the side of her cheek before she dropped her head into her hands and let the rest of her tears spill over.

* * *

Duncan felt himself start to panic as he helplessly watched her cry. What the hell was he supposed to do? He never dealt with a girl crying before, especially Courtney. Sure, it was pretty interesting to see a depressed, vulnerable side of her for the first time ever, but he wasn't just going to simply watch the girl he possibly loved pour her heart out in front of him.

Completely clueless on what to do, Duncan patted her head awkwardly. "Um, there, there. It's okay…"

"I'm not a freakin' dog, Duncan." Courtney said between quiet sobs, still keeping her head down so he wouldn't see her face. She was already embarrassed how she totally lost herself in front of Duncan, of all people.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Dammit," he muttered before taking her hands away from her eyes and making her look up at him.

Her cheeks were covered in tears and tinted with a deep red, which made her freckles stand out more than whenever she was angry. The onyx of her eyes seemed faded and worn out.

Duncan mentally growled at the fact that Heather had caused all this. _So _this_ was how she felt like for the 2 times that bitch messed with us? I swear to God, next time I get my hands around her scrawny neck, I'm gonna rip her throat out!_

"Listen," he sighed. "Whatever happened happened. Okay? There's nothing anyone can do about it."

Courtney sniffed and nodded, trying not to meet his eyes, but he let go of one of her wrists and gently lifter her chin closer to him with his forefinger.

"You can't change the past, but you can ruin today by worrying about the future," Duncan then pulled out one of the most genuine smiles Courtney had never seen, other than his usual cocky smirk.

_This is the soft side of Duncan? _Courtney wondered in her head, then smiled to herself. _I kinda like it._

"You can make it better. So today, you're gonna learn how to just 'shrug it off and let it go', courtesy of _moi_."

Courtney looked at him unsurely through her tears. "And how are we supposed to do that?"

"Well, you can just scream it all out," Duncan pointed out, sweeping his arms in front of him to gesture the entire campus. _Maybe I'll get a little sneak peek at her wild side. _"The whole high school's listening!"

"Hell no!" Courtney exclaimed, looking at him incredulously. _Ah, forget it. _"I already made a fool out of myself in front of _you_! No way am I doing it again! Option 2, please."

Duncan gave her a fake pout. "Fine, fine." He needed to convince her soon that trying to meet him again was worth it, but how the hell was he supposed to do it?

He leaned closer to her face, took his thumb, and slowly wiped off the remaining tears that were still hanging on her cheeks. Courtney watched him stiffly, and Duncan never took his eyes away from hers. _She's not that bad actually, _he thought, watching her eyes follow his thumb. _If we weren't fighting all the time, I think I'd like her. She's kinda… cute? Heh, now I know why I loved violinChick._

_I should tell her now. That it was all Heather's fault that we never got to meet. How I never would've expected us to be in love online but we're complete opposites in real life. I should just blurt out that I'm chameleon, but not the one that ripped her to shreds at Prom. And tell her that I loved her ever since that first eMail in the 2__nd__ year of high school._

Courtney let her eyes follow his thumb as he wiped away the last tear. She felt his inviting presence growing warmer and warmer as he inched closer to her. She even let her eyelids slowly close when she could feel his breath almost near her neck. This was the last thing Courtney thought would ever happen, but it was all going too fast.

Their lips were just a few inches apart when she turned her head to the side and took his face in her hands.

Duncan opened his eyes and noticed her hesitation. He tried to look her in the eye once again, but she wouldn't glance at him.

Courtney then smiled at him coyly. "Was _that_ your Option 2?"

He couldn't help but smirk. "You're such a tease, Princess. And nah, the 2nd option is to just take your chances. High school officially ends in a couple of weeks, so you gotta make the most of it! You really don't wanna waste your last days while being a heart broken teenager, do you?"

Without another word, Courtney got up and began to walk down the hill towards the distant campus Center.

"Whoa, whoa, wait. Where are you going?" Duncan got up hastily and started after her, trying not to stumble down since it was a pretty steep hill.

"I'm going to _not_ waste my last days being heart broken, duh." Courtney replied, looking back over her shoulder as she made her way gracefully through some oak trees.

Duncan smirked smugly and admired his work. _This wasn't so hard after all!_

He was half-expecting what she was probably going to go do, so after walking her back to her room, he darted to his and waited anxiously by his laptop.

* * *

"And the nurse asked her, 'Girl, that's some hickey you got there!', and Heather tried to tell her otherwise, but she was convincing _no one_!" Bridgette laughed hysterically after she explained to Courtney what had happened to Heather once she managed to drag herself to the nurse's office.

Courtney laughed along and looked at her blonde friend confusingly. "Were you stalking Heather or something?"

"No, no," Bridgette replied, still giggling. "I went to pick up some medical books and I overheard Heather's screaming. So yeah, I couldn't help but just stay for a while! I mean, I do feel sort of bad that Heather was almost strangled to death, but still! The bitch kinda deserved it…"

Courtney picked up her laptop and patiently waited for it to turn on once she pressed the power button. She felt her friend eyeing her carefully.

"Where did you run off to?" She asked curiously.

"I just went out to sit down and think for a bit." The brown-haired girl shrugged.

Bridgette glared at the olive laptop sitting on her friend's lap. "I thought you and _chameleon_ are completely done for."

"Oh, c'mon Bridge. High school ends in just a few weeks, and I gotta make the most of it! I can't just waste my last few days wallowing away in my stupid misery! I need to give this another chance." Courtney responded, clicking and typing in her password for her AIM.

"You didn't sound so willing after Prom. What changed your mind?" Bridgette asked, putting on her sandals.

Courtney smiled. "I just had a little talk with a good friend, that's all." She tried not to mention that the "good friend" is really Duncan, since she couldn't really believe it herself.

"Well, that's good to hear. I just don't want you getting hurt again, but good luck," Her friend said gently and started to head out of the door. "I'll be back; I just have to go get some lunch with Geoff."

"Alright," Courtney waved to her, keeping her eyes on the blank chat window she was ready to type into.

Before closing the door completely, Bridgette stuck her head in and whispered "And tell your 'good friend, Duncan' I said thanks for making you feel better."

Courtney opened her mouth in shock and began to protest, but her blonde friend simply winked and shut the door.

She shook her head in defeat and laughed to herself. _How does she always know? _She stared at the blank conversation window that was just begging to be typed in. The words _chameleon_ told her the night before stung her chest, how he said that he never wanted to hear from her again.

Courtney knitted her eyebrows together in determination. _Courtney Sanders does NOT back down!_

_**violinChick754:**_hey, maybe we should meet again before school ends.

It was only a matter of seconds before a reply flew underneath her message, which brought a relieved smile to her face.

_**chameleon:**_i agree. whatever was said last night, just forget it. It was just a big misunderstanding.**  
**_**violinChick754:**_what do u mean?

She couldn't help but feel a little bit aggravated. Last night, he made it perfectly clear that he wanted nothing to do with her, so how could it be a misunderstanding?

_**chameleon:**_I'll explain the whole thing when we meet, but i'll tell u that i'm being tracked down n someone's posing as me. I was there last nite, but someone made a distraction for me and another person went to u when u were at the dance floor. I know who's screwing with us, but I can't say now.

Courtney's eyes widened with every word she read. Now that she thought of it, the person that met her at the dance floor last night didn't sound like the _chameleon_ she learned to trust for 3 years.

_**violinChick754:**_now that I think of it, it does make sense. that's a little creepy tho lol…  
_**chameleon:**_ha, you got that rite. after we decide the time and place, we're sticking to it, okay? I already kno that the person posing as me's gonna send u an eMail changing the time, so yeah.  
_**violinChick754:**_alright, I'm with u on this! school ends in a few weeks, so when and where? How about near that old coffeeshop at the back of campus?  
_**chameleon:**_sounds good. Tomorrow, 5pm, no later?  
_**violinChick754:**_yup! I hope I'll c u this time :/

Courtney rubbed her eyes while waiting for his response once she felt a little threatening sting of tears, praying that she'll never have to feel that again.

_**chameleon:**_trust me princess, I'll be there no matter what. i'm not givin up too easily.

That was all she needed to believe.

_**violinChick754: **_:)

o0O0o

**A/N: It's been too long! Sorry guys, but I was just so caught up writing this song for my new baby step-sister :3 I was watching this Beatles movie with my mom the other day and since they were my inspiration for music, I thought I'd write a little song along with some guitar tabs. I'm still working on it, but I decided to give it a break and type up a chappie :D yay!**

****SPOILER ALERT!** (thanks to Polka Dot Jewel for reminding me ;D)  
****As you all know already, the totaldramaislandwikia website had announced episode 14 of TDWT, Greece's Pieces. Where DUNCAN COMES BACK, BABY! But to totally kill the celebration, Gwen just HAD to go and kiss him in the confessional. Grr.  
**IT'S SAFE NOW!** **

**I decided that to cope, I'll making another DxC songfic. Any suggestions? I'm willing to take!**

**Formspring's still up, and deviantArt will always be there :D R&R please! ~Raf**


	10. AN

**Hey, guys! As some of you know from DA, I've been pretty busy the past week, and I wasn't really able to get to a computer or laptop until now. I'm so sorry about the delay, but I'm still trying to type up the next chapter of this story with every chance I get!**

**Just to let you all know, I'm writing another DxC fanfic, called "When In Italy…" on looseleaf, and I'm up to chapter 3! I'll try to type that up too, when I get the chance.**

**I've been updating a lot on my DA though, so check out the link to deviantArt on my profile in case you want to check out some stuff :3 formspring's still up, too, if you have any questions. All in the profile!**

**Last but not least, I want to thank you guys for your patience on this story. The ending is just a few chappies away, but as time continues to get on my case, it'll have to wait. But since I already have the first 2 chapters for the new story already written, maybe I'll be able to type that up soon and let you guys read that during the wait :D**

**I'm definitely not abandoning this story! I'll see you all as soon as I can, and I know that TDWT ep14 is up on YouTube already. Please check out DA for my rants lol.**

**Cheers! ~Raf**


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